I Didn't Mean To
by toledo girl
Summary: Johnny and Jennifer both wake up together not remembering the night before, but what happens if Johnny was just trying to help her? Johnny soon learns that he was just trying to protect her from some one else. Johnny/Jennifer and some Andy/Bailey
1. Chapter 1

1

Johnny lay in a bed, he wasn't sure whose it was, but it definitely was not his. There was no way that it could be. He sat up and grabbed his throbbing head as he tried to remember how he even got to where he was. "Oh God," he moaned as he pulled himself out of bed. He could definitely recall going to a party that had been thrown the night before. It was thrown by Andy, although, he couldn't remember why.

He made his way over to the counter and decided that he must have been in a hotel room by how small the space was. He reached for the phone and put it up to his ear. "Okay, just wondering, thank you," he said after hearing a voice greet him and ask what he had needed. He hung up the phone and stood there for a minute as he tried to remember what had happened the previous night, or just why he was there.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a soft moan followed by the rustling of the bed sheets. He quickly turned and saw the blonde hair scattered on the pillow and then looked around and saw both their clothes carelessly thrown out on the floor. "Oh?" he asked himself. "I must have had a better time than I thought."

He approached the bed and sat down on the edge. The movement caused the girl to roll over onto her back. "Oh boy," he said getting nervous. The girl that lay next to him was Jennifer.


	2. Chapter 2

2

Johnny stared down at her with surprise. It was unbelievable that he had done what seemed like the impossible with Jennifer. There was also guilt. He knew that she would hate him and that she would be ashamed, but what could he do now?

"Who's there?" she muttered still half asleep. Jennifer turned over and looked at him. At first it hadn't seen like she had realized. She simply smiled up at him and then looked around the room. It was the instant her eyes met his that he knew she knew. "Johnny?" she shrieked as she started to sit up, but noticed that the only thing she was wearing were her under garments. Pulling the sheet up to her shoulders, she stared in shock at him. "What happened?!" she asked getting nervous. "What did you do?" she asked examining the room.

"I don't even know where we are let alone what happened," he said. He sighed and then looked down. There was a dread that came to him when he lifted his head. He didn't want to see her face, to look her in the eyes. It would have been one thing is this was some girl that he met and didn't really care about, but this was Jennifer.

Jennifer sighed and then looked out towards the window. "Could you please leave so that I can get dressed?" she asked.

Johnny, who was still trying to find out where he was, stepped out into a small room off to the side and sat there. He was trying to find out what she was feeling. Her tone had a mixture of anger and impatience, but her eyes showed shame. He knew one thing though, that he had better have a good apology ready for when she walked out of that room.

Johnny stood up and walked over to the window and looked out over the city. Good news, it was still Cincinnati. At least now he knew he was still in the same city. "Well, that cuts out of having to look for signs," he said.

He found himself starting to get nervous. He had to face her again. Not at the moment, but when she walked out of that door, he would have to do something. He was also concerned about how things were going to be over at work. Whether or not they could work together.

"Johnny?"

He turned around as soon as he heard the voice that was starting to squeak with some kind of nervousness.

"Yes?" he asked. He was now starting to worry. She stood there looking like she was about to cry. Her eyes were wide with concern.

"Are you sure that you don't remember anything at all from last night?" she asked with her voice getting shaky from worry.

"I'm trying to. Why? Do you?" he asked.

"No, but I found something that may bring back a few memories," she said.

Johnny looked at her with interest and concern as she slowly pulled her arm out from behind her back. "This," she said presenting a white piece of paper.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing much," she said. "Just a marriage license with both of our names signed to it," she said.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Jennifer and Johnny stood in the elevator as they made their way up to the right floor. They both had an uneasy feeling as they stood in the closed in space. Jennifer was mad at Johnny, but the more she thought about it, she had herself to blame too. In order to get married, there had to be two people present, and she happened to be the other one present. It was obvious that every one there had been drinking, but she hadn't been herself and had drank a little too much.

To Johnny, this wasn't a huge surprise. He knew how easily he could get carried away at a party. He was just surprised how carried away that he had got. He had never expected to get married. Especially to Jennifer. He figured that she would have been one to not drink much at all, especially since Herb was there.

"I think we should keep this just between the two of us," he said.

"It's nice to see that you're thinking clearly now," she said hinting her anger towards him.

Johnny slowly turned his head and lowered his sunglasses to reveal his eyes. "You're not going to seriously put all this on me are you?" he asked.

Jennifer just sighed. "How can I? It takes two to get married," she said.

"My first wife said something like that nine months before Laurie showed up," Johnny said.

Jennifer just rolled her eyes as the doors opened. They both casually stepped off and walked into the main lobby. Jennifer took her seat at her desk and stared down at the empty space. Johnny stood behind her. "You know, you don't have to be here right now, it's only five thirty," he said.

"Oh, that's right," she said and then turned towards him. "Then why did you ask me if I needed a ride with you this morning?" she asked.

"If you didn't notice, neither of us lived in that hotel room," he said.

"Right," she answered and then laid her head down on her desk.

Johnny started to walk away, but then paused and turned back. "You know, this doesn't have to be that big of a deal," he said getting her to lift her head up and look at him. "I mean, tonight we can go down and get an annulment. And nobody has to find out about it."

Johnny just studied her for a minute as a look of some sort of uncertainness came a cross her face. It seemed as if she were trying to rush out a lie or fake something. "That is what you want, isn't it?" he asked.

Jennifer looked up at him as if she had been brought out of deep thought. "Oh, yes, of course," she said and then quickly turned around and grabbed random papers from her drawer and anxiously stacked them on her desk. "Why would I want it any other way?" she asked.

Johnny just stood there. Something was wrong, there was a lot more to last night than he would ever find out. Suddenly, a smirk came across his face. He took his sunglasses off and clipped them onto his shirt as he walked over to the desk. "You don't want the annulment, do you?" he asked as he stood over the desk.

"What annulment?"

They each quickly turned and saw Herb standing in the door way. He was nervously looking down at Jennifer. "Well, aren't you going to answer my question or are you two just going to stare at me?" he anxiously asked.

"Well, you are good for a laugh," Johnny said.

"Come on!" he said.

Jennifer rolled her eyes as she stood up. "Herb, it's not me," she announced with a straight face.

"It's not?" he asked starting to show some excitement.

"No Herb, it's my baby sister. She just turned eighteen. And how do you think that those silly kids celebrated?" she asked and then paused as she went and put her arm around him. "Well, they got drunk, now little miss Angela is married and she doesn't barely even know the boy," she said and then stopped to see whether or not he was believing the story. "So, don't you think that they should get an annulment?" she asked turning to face him.

"Yeah, I guess," he said lustfully staring at her.

"Good, that settles it. Tonight I'll call her and tell her what she should do," she said and then went back to her desk and acted like she was working on something important.

Johnny just looked up and watched as Herb left the room. Once alone with Jennifer again, he looked over her shoulder and read the paper in her hands. "Shopping list," he said out loud.

"Fooled Herb though," she said and then turned around. "And that's all that counts."

"Jennifer," he said. There was something in his voice that struck her. There was a tone of seriousness and concern that she hadn't heard before. Of course, they were dealing with a serious situation. She could also see it that he was bracing himself for the worst. "I mean, I've got to get on the air in two minutes and you don't seem like you want to end last night's little surprise," he said.

She just stared up at him. There was nothing to say now. He was suspicious and starting to ask the questions that she did not want to hear.

"Now be honest, we don't have to stay married, do we?" he asked.

"Why would we?" she asked losing his track of thought.

"You're not uh, you're not umm," he started.

"There is no possible way that any one would know that quickly Johnny," she said.

Johnny stood there for a minute before he had decided to leave the room. Once she was alone, Jennifer turned around and nervously looked towards the door way. There was a desperate fear in her eyes. She then simply closed her eyes and turned back to face her desk.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Jennifer cleaned off her desk as she got ready to leave for home.

"Good night Jennifer!" Andy called out as he walked passed her desk.

Jennifer just looked up and smiled. "Good bye Andy," she replied.

Andy stepped back as he grabbed his coat. "I think Les needs something before you go," he announced.

"Oh?" she asked as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, he needs you to settle some kind of argument that he and Bailey are in. Something about stealing his stories," Andy said.

She just stared at him with a blank expression. "Okay," she said and then grabbed her purse and headed towards the office. Herb came from the door and stopped before her. "So, Jennifer, what are you doing tonight?" he asked. She smugly smiled in return. "Not you," she remarked and then continued on her way. Herb turned back and watched her and then looked over at Andy who was smiling. "Was that called for?" he asked.

"What do you think Herb?" he asked.

"It's not my fault if her mind's in the gutter," Herb answered and then walked into Mr. Carlson's office. Andy just shook his head and left.

"Now Herb! I don't want to hear it," Mr. Carlson said as he walked out and closed the door behind him. As he walked out, Jennifer walked out with Bailey and Les. "Now Les, I'm sure that if it was your turn at if wasn't going on right then, that Bailey would have let you handled the story," she explained.

"Believe me, I would have," Bailey said getting annoyed.

"But it's not everyday day that a pig runs loose in the city roads Bailey! Can you imagine how long it will be until another event like that happens?" he asked.

"Les, I'm sorry, I don't know how many times I need to tell you that, but I'm sorry, you were busy and it was my turn, so how about tomorrow," she stopped and thought about what she was saying, "you take all my turns for me."

"Okay," Les reluctantly agreed. Bailey rolled her eyes and then said goodbye to Jennifer and left.

"Good bye Mr. Carlson," she said waving to him as she noticed him by the coat stand. He was staring out the door towards Les and Bailey. "I guess he never will get used to sharing the news will he?" he asked.

"No, I guess he won't," Jennifer said.

"Well, see you Jennifer," he said and then walked out the door.

Herb stayed in Mr. Carlson's office and stood over by the desk as he was looking for something.

"I think every one else besides Venus has left if you're ready," Johnny said. Herb perked his head up as he stared towards the door.

"Well," she was hesitant. "I guess now is as good a time as ever."

Herb immediately walked over to the door and stood with his ear against it. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Something wrong?" Johnny asked.

"Well, I don't know," she said.

Herb stepped back and cautiously opened a small crack in the door just big enough for him to see through. He could see Jennifer sitting in her that was turned away from the desk as Johnny stood before her. Jennifer looked worried about something. Almost like she was about to cry.

"But this morning you sounded like you wanted this over with as soon as possible," he said. He was starting to get irritated, but tried to hide it since he didn't want to upset her. She already looked vulnerable. He knew there was something wrong, he just needed her to tell him.

"I know," she said as she stood up and walked over towards the opposite side of the room.

Johnny sighed as he looked down. "Okay, let's try this again," he said and then looked up "is there something wrong?" he gently asked. Jennifer slowly turned and faced him. She could hear the concern in his voice and it seemed to help her a little.

Herb wanted so badly to rush out there, but he knew that if he did, they would stop talking. That they would simply yell at him to get out.

"There is something wrong," she said and then looked down. She could feel him watching her as he waited for her answer. "Last week I ran into this weirdo at the store. He asked me out and I turned him down. He was upset, which I expected, but I didn't know how upset until I realized that he had started stalking me. I wanted to call the police, but I was afraid that he somehow watching me and that he would hurt me if I did," she said as she nervously stared into the distance. "And then I figured that maybe if I could show him that I was married that he might leave me alone," she explained.

"There was more to last night then I thought," he said.

"Actually, I don't remember last night, but I guess that would make it a lot easier for me to agree to get married. I probably told you the story," she said.

"We can hold off an the annulment for a while if that's what you want," he said.

"Thank you," she said staring down towards the ground as she tried to hold back tears.

"You want to stay with me tonight?" he asked.

Herb crossed his fingers as he hoped that she would say no. That she would turn him down.

"You promise not to try anything?" she asked.

Johnny thought about that for a minute. "I guess," he said with defeat.

Jennifer softly smiled. "Thank you," she said.

Herb cringed. He couldn't take it anymore. "No! You can't stay with him! He won't keep his promise! My wife will be home! I'll have to behave!" he yelled out.

They both froze as they stared at him. Johnny didn't mind so much that he knew, but it was killing Jennifer. "What are you doing here?" she asked trying to keep her self from yelling.

"I was just looking for something," he said.

Jennifer just stood there and stared. She had known that he would have listened if he were there, and she did think that every one had left. She then looked up at him. "Please Herb, don't tell any one else," she begged.

"Promise," he said as he held his hand up.


	5. Chapter 5

Jennifer went to go stop at her apartment. She wanted to grab a few of her things before she went to his place, especially since she didn't know how long that she would be there. Johnny waited out in his car in the parking lot.

Jennifer opened the door and gasped at the sight in front of her. The entire apartment was torn apart. Furniture out of it's place and knocked over, scattered books and papers and other random objects were all over the place. Too scared to enter, she turned to leave, but something tightly gripped her arm and kept her there. She was about to yell, but he quickly clamped his hand over he mouth and pulled her back. He cringed as she bit down on his hand, but it didn't work. He simply closed the door with the other hand and forced her over to the couch as she tried her hardest to get out of his grip.

Johnny sat down in the car. He had been waiting for about ten minutes and was starting to wonder what was keeping her. He knew that women take longer to pack, but he also knew that she was only going to grab a few things. She had told him that she was only going to take a few minutes. Well, that few minutes has become a lot longer then he expected form her to be in there. "Come on Jennifer," he said starting to get impatient.

Jennifer sat in the corner of the couch. All she could do was stare at the man standing before her. There was now tape over her mouth and he held a gun. Her hands were tied behind her back which was starting to become uncomfortable, but now there was a lot more in her mind than comfort. There was nothing that she could do. He was guarding the door and she didn't have a gun, so the odds of her getting away were slim at this point. She was too terrified to even react anyways. She wanted to get up and make a run for the door, but she kept remembering his tight grip on her arm and how it was still sore. If he was able to do that with one hand, imagine what he could have done if he really wanted to beat her. That was a thought that she wanted to stay away from.

"You know that you're the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen?" he asked looking down at her. It was apparent to her what he wanted, she just didn't want to think about that. Suddenly she felt her tightening her legs together as if to try and keep him from using her. "You were also the brightest so far, you know that?" he asked. "You got out of her for the night and you didn't try to snoop around to see who was here, you just tried to leave. I give you credit for that. I didn't think any of you dumb blondes could figure anything out."

Her eyes started to water with fear and frustration. She noticed that he had started to move closer to her. There was no way that she was ever going to be prepared for what she was going to get. "And I can see that you know what I am going to do now. Very good," he said.

Johnny checked his watch again. Twenty minutes. Now he was just starting to get worried. He knew that she wouldn't take this long to grab a couple of outfits. He could clearly remember her telling him that she would only take a couple of minutes and be right back. That she was going to hurry up so that she could get this over with as soon as possible. "Okay, let's go," he said to himself as he opened up the car door and got out.

Jennifer was in the corner of the couch as he sat in front of her. He was leaning over her with an evil smirk. "You realize that this would have all been so much easier if you would have just given me a chance?" he asked leaning in closer to her. Jennifer tried to back up more, but the arm of the couch was stopping her, so she scooted up and sat on the arm. "Oh, are you trying to get away?" he asked nearly climbing on top of her. She instinctively backed up, but fell to the ground. He looked over and saw her laying down there. "You're right darling, that is an easier place isn't it?" he asked.

The man was about to go and join her, but he froze as soon as he heard the door swing open. "Jennifer!" he yelled. The man turned and looked to him as he held his gun out. "Don't do anything!" he ordered while trying to keep his voice down. Johnny froze as he saw the gun. He then stepped out of the room and hid behind the wall. "You can't do anything now!" he yelled as loud as he could.

"Like hell I can't," he said and then started to walk towards the door.

"Don't shoot me!" he yelled. People started to open their doors and look out to see what was going on. The man froze. Johnny looked over and smiled. "Now you've got an audience," he announced. The man quickly ran out of the room and down the hall towards the elevator. "Thanks folks," Johnny said and then walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He then saw Jennifer sitting up behind the couch. He walked over and helped her up and led her around to the front. They both sat down and he untied her hands for her and removed the tape from her mouth.

"Thank you." was about all she could get out before she broke down. He was a little uncomfortable when ever some one would cry around him, but he knew it was coming. "Are you okay?" he asked. He then mentally kicked himself for even asking that. "Not the right question," he said.

Jennifer just looked up and then leaned her head on his shoulder. He then put his arms around her as he tried to comfort her. "Did I get here in time or was I too late?" he asked.

"You came in time," she said with her voice being muffled in his shoulder.

"Okay, now come on, let's grab your things and leave. Okay?" he gently stated trying to get her to calm down.

Jennifer wiped her face off as she looked up and nodded. "Okay," she agreed. Johnny stood up and then grabbed her elbow and helped her up then led her to her room.

**I know that this chapter was serious, but I promise, the next few will be a little lighter. Unless you want the next few to still be real serious. **


	6. Chapter 6

6

Johnny swung open the door to his apartment and stood off to the side. Jennifer walked in and looked around the place. She was still shook up over the earlier incident. "I told you it was small on the way here," he said seeing the look on her face.

"That's fine," she said. She did have her dislikes about his apartment, but there was no way that she would complain about being there. This was the place where she was safe and away from that man. Johnny saved her and was allowing her to stay in his apartment. It didn't even matter what the apartment looked like. All that mattered to her was that she was safe now.

"You just make yourself at home and try to calm down. I'll be right back with your things," he said. Jennifer softly smiled at him and then continued to look around after he had left. There was another feeling of paranoia being alone in the room.

"You can sit down if you want." Jennifer jumped and quickly wheeled around at the sound of his voice. "Hey, I'm sorry," he said after he saw her trying to catch her breath.

Johnny closed the door behind him and then made it obvious to her that he was locking the door. "Thanks," she said.

Johnny walked over into the kitchen. "You want anything?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine, thank you," she said.

Johnny turned and looked at her as she paced. "Well, I believe that you don't want anything, but I have trouble believing that you're fine," he said. Jennifer just sighed. "Come on," he said as he walked over to her. Johnny sat down on the couch in front of her and motioned for her to join him. As soon as she sat down, he put his arm around her. Every muscle in her body was tense.

"I know that you're a little tense and I expect that, but you really should try to relax," he said.

Jennifer looked over at him and raised her eyebrows at him. "I would like to if I could," she said. She sighed as she looked off to the side. She cringed as she remembered his voice, and that smug little grin. The grin that gave everything away. "I know what a lot of men want from me," she started. Johnny gave her a look of confusion as he slightly nodded. There could have been a weirder way to start out, but he wasn't about to say anything while she was still upset. "But most times, they'll just act like you or Herb. They come on to me in some way that they think is cute or playful, but once I turn them down, that's it. Herb, as determined as he is has never tied me down." Tears started forming in her eyes. "But him, I _know_ what he wanted and I _know_ how far he was willing to go to get it."

Johnny just stared at her. He could see the pain in her eyes as she thought about the man. It was hard for him to see her like this. She was usually happy and cheerful, but not now and it bothered him. "You don't have to worry about him any more," he said.

Jennifer looked up at him and acknowledged his effort. "I wish it were that easy," she remarked. She sat back and sighed.

"Well, it's going to start getting dark soon," he said. That was what she was dreading. The night. At ;east she knew that she wasn't going to have to get through it alone. But she did feel bad since she knew that Johnny had to wake up early to go to work. "And I think I should show you the bedroom," he said. Johnny got up and walked about a yard over to the side of the room and pointed to the bed placed right in front of the door. "Here it is," he said.

"Convenient," she said.

"Now, you can have the bed and I'll sleep on the couch," he said pointing to where she was sitting.

Jennifer stood up. "Oh Johnny, I couldn't take you're bed from you," she said.

"Jennifer, I can sleep any where, any place at anytime. The only reason I have a bed is because it came with the apartment," he said.

"And the bed is right by the door while the couch is off to the side," she said hating to admit that she was worried about that. Johnny chuckled at her and then nodded. "Alright," he said.

That night, Jennifer had the hardest time sleeping that she had ever had in her life. Every time she closed her eyes, she kept seeing his face. That smug little look on his face. It was about one in the morning when she awoke from a nightmare.

"No," she whimpered as she sat up. It took her a minute to realize where she was. As hard as she tried, she couldn't calm herself down. The entire place was silent and it was starting to make her feel like she was alone. "Johnny?" she lightly called out.

The blankets on the bed stirred and then she heard a soft moan. "Yeah?" he asked barely awake.

"Can I come join you over there?" she asked sounding unsure of herself.

"I don't see why not. We've done it before haven't we?" asked as he lifted the cover beside him to allow her to lay down. Jennifer slightly smiled and then walked over. "Besides, I can't deny my wife share of the bed can I?" he asked as she slid in the bed next to him. She thoughtfully stared for a minute and then closed her eyes in attempt to go to sleep.

"Hey Jennifer?" Johnny asked still sounding half asleep.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Tomorrow morning, do you want to come into work with me again? Or would you rather me let you sleep?" he asked. She thought for a second. "I think I'll come in with you." She then quickly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Johnny drove Jennifer into work with him. "You know where I am if you need me," he said and then walked out of the room. The first couple hours alone in the lobby gave her time to think. Johnny had actually referred to her as his wife. She knew that he liked to kid around, but there was something about the way that he had said it. There was a sincerity in his voice when he said it. Of course, you can't just ignore the fact that he was half asleep. But still, there was something about it.

More people eventually showed up to work. Herb was one of the last people to walk in. He carefully walked in and hung his coat up and then turned and stared over at Jennifer. She knew very well that she was being watched and knew why, but decided not to let on to him. He slowly walked passed her desk and stopped about half way to the door. He was trying to see if she would say anything to him. "Good morning Jennifer," he said.

"Good morning Herb," she said trying to act like she was busy. She might have been scared from yesterday, but at work she felt a lot better. There were people surrounding her, it was light out, and besides, she still wanted to play a few head games with Herb. But no matter what, she still had her secrets to keep and had to be careful.

"Anything for me today?" he asked hoping that it would lead to a deeper conversation. The only thing that was on his mind right now was her marriage to Johnny. All he wanted to hear was that they got it annulled.

Jennifer turned and smiled at him. "Actually, there was a call for you. Sherry's Shoes, a Mr. McGurk wants to meet with you for lunch," she said handing him a phone number. Herb stepped back towards her and took the paper. "Oh," he said staring down at it.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Of course not Mrs. Fever," he said. She then knew that she went too far. Resisting the urge to yell at him for bringing it up, she just tried to convince herself to be thankful that he chose to mention it when they were alone.

Herb started to walk away, but then turned back to Jennifer. "Why? Why him? What could you possibly ever see in him?" he begged with his voice gradually getting louder with each question.

Jennifer just nervously looked around. Now one had even been curious enough to come out to the lobby to see what he was doing. Then again, they expected him to always go crazy over her and they probably just figured that she had told him that she had a date. Bailey on the other hand, had been making her way to the lobby.

"I told you not to mention the marriage," Jennifer hissed while trying to keep her voice down.

"What marriage?" Bailey asked as she walked over to Jennifer's desk.

"Oh, well, if you don't mind, I would, I would really rather not discuss this here," Jennifer said getting a little nervous.

"Well, okay," Bailey said completely understanding. She thought that she would probably just hear it later when Herb wasn't there and stood there at the desk until Herb got the idea that Jennifer didn't want him there.

"Okay Bailey, what did you need?" Jennifer asked politely as she turned to face her.

"Well, I need you to send this out today," she said handing her a letter.

"I'll get it out as soon as possible," Jennifer said without even looking at the address on the letter.

Bailey started to walk away, but paused and looked back. "Is there really another man, or are you just trying to get Herb out of your hair?" Bailey asked smugly smiling. Jennifer just turned back and smiled at her. "Something like that," she said and then turned back around to her desk.

Johnny then walked out into the lobby. He was about to go ask Jennifer if she had wanted to go out to dinner. He had spent a lot of time with her in the last couple of days and decided that maybe it would do her some good to just go out and have fun. Try to get her mind off of that man that had attacked her and maybe let her get a night of decent sleep.

"Hey Johnny?" Bailey asked as he passed her.

"Yeah?" he asked stopping and turning to her.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Have you decided on where we should go tonight?" she asked.

Jennifer slowly lifted her head as her eyes widened. She had forgotten all about those two and was now feeling like the worst friend in the world.

Johnny froze. He had forgotten all about his date with Bailey. With everything going on as it was in his life at the moment, that was the last thing on his mind, and it caused an instant guilt.


	7. Chapter 7

7

Johnny nervously looked over at Jennifer. "I don't know. What did they say when you called the phone company?" he asked.

Jennifer caught on to his question and turned around with a piece of paper in her hand. "He told me that he would be over to tomorrow to fix it. You're free tonight," she stated.

"You sure about that?" he asked as he took the slip and read it.

_Take her out tonight, afterwards, we need to talk._

Johnny just looked up and nodded. "Perfect," he said with enthusiasm and then looked over at Bailey. "How about we go to the movies?" he asked.

"Okay," Bailey said. She wasn't too sure of what was going on, but as long as he was going out with her, she didn't care. At most she figured that there had just been something awkward between the two or something. "See you tonight then," she said and then left the room.

Johnny leaned down on her desk and questionably stared at her. Jennifer didn't look up at him. "Yes?" she asked.

"Are you sure about this? I might be out late tonight, and judging by how you were last night, I don't know if that's a good idea," he said. Jennifer slowly looked up at him now and shrugged. "How late do you think you'll be out?" she asked starting to get concerned.

Johnny sighed. He honestly had no idea. "I don't know, but it won't be that late. I'll be home in time for bed," he said.

"I'll be fine," she said reassuring him, although, it felt more like she was trying to convince herself.

The rest of the day went by as normal as could be. There was no more of her secrets talks with Johnny, Herb kept coming onto her, but never mentioned her situation, and she had to send three salesmen away.

It was after work that things changed. Instead of going home, Johnny and Bailey left together and went out to dinner before they went to go see what ever movie they were going to watch. Jennifer, went right back to his little apartment. It was around six and it was already starting to get dark outside, the time she hated the most. Not wanting to make a lot of noise, she decided to go curl up on the couch and read. Anything to keep from bringing attention to herself.

Johnny sat in a booth across from Bailey at the local diner. It wasn't fancy or expensive, but it was enough. He was now starting to feel relieved that he was with Bailey here instead of Jennifer. He knew that Bailey was able to enjoy something simple, but he wasn't so sure about Jennifer.

The first few minutes of their date was almost unbearable. For some reason neither of them wanted to open their mouths and talk. Johnny decided to finally go first. "So, I heard that you may be babysitting your niece," he said not really knowing what else to say. He was distracted by the thought of leaving Jennifer alone.

"Yes," she said as her eyes lit up. "Jessie, she's almost four."

"How about you bring her into work with you?" Johnny asked. He really didn't know why he was asking, but he did.

"I might, if she can behave herself for more than ten minutes at a time," she said.

Jennifer sat by herself, trying her hardest to keep calm, but nothing was really working. "It's okay," she would repeat to herself every now and then when she needed to hear it. Granted, she was doing better than she had been the previous night, but there was this uneasy feeling of paranoia that kept washing over her every time that she would hear a little bump or see something out of the corner of her eye that she didn't think was there.

Johnny sat with Bailey in the theater. Like usual, he didn't care what they were playing up on the screen, except, this time it was for a different reason all together. He was still a little worried about Jennifer. The more that he thought about it, the more he began to worry himself. He was becoming protective over her. Why not? She had just been attacked by a man. It was enough to take her into to his home, but to agree to stay married? And what about still worrying about her when he knew that she would be okay. Or did he know? How could any one be certain of anything like that? He had no way of knowing what ever happened to that man after he had run off.

Jennifer lay on the couch as she restlessly tried to sleep. The room was completely quiet. As long as it was silent, she was fine, but as soon as she heard noise, it was over, and she was aware of that. Suddenly, the door knob twisted. As soon as she heard the door begin to open, she jumped up. The nearest thing to her was a lamp. She grabbed it and ran over to the door. A man walked in, and without thinking, she swung at him. The whole thing took place in less than a minute.

"Jesus Christ Jennifer!" he yelled and then turned the light on.

"Oh God, Johnny," she gasped. "I'm sorry." She rushed over to him. Johnny held his arm which was bleeding. She looked his arm over. "I'm really sorry," she said.

"It's okay. At least I know you won't let anything happen to my house while I'm gone," he said. Johnny looked down at his arm and then took his coat off revealing the cuts in his arm. "I don't see any glass in there, do you?" he asked.

"No," she said and then stepped back and looked around. "I'll buy you a new lamp and coat tomorrow," she said.

"Don't worry about it," he said. There was a sincerity in his voice. She was expecting at least a little bit of irritation, but there was none of that. Not even annoyance. "Besides, I thought that you didn't lend money to men. Said something about how it makes them weak." She simply sighed. "But I didn't go into their home and brake their furniture." She then just focused her attention onto his arm. "Don't you think that you should at least go to the hospital?" she asked.

"Why? There's no glass in there. Couldn't have cut that deep if I was wearing a coat," he said completely shrugging the entire incident off. He then stood there for a second. He could see how sorry she really was. It was obvious that the subject needed to be changed. "So, you said that we should talk after I got back from my date with Bailey?"

"Right," she said and then started to the couch. "Well," she said as she sat down. Johnny came and joined her. She looked down and thought for a moment and then finally looked up at Johnny. "Do you think we should tell her?" Jennifer asked.

Johnny just blankly stared at her. "Why?" he asked. "I've lived my entire life without telling people what I'm doing. I find it keeps you out of trouble," he said.

Jennifer closed her eyes as she sighed. "What if Herb slips? How do you think she'll feel then?" she asked.

"There's a good chance of that happening," he said looking off to the side.

"And, how long do you think that we can really keep this a secret?" she asked.

"Maybe we should make it so that we don't have any secrets," he said. "I mean, more secrets are the last things that I need," he said.

Jennifer just watched him as she tried to figure out where he was going with this. He saw the look of confusion. "What I'm saying is," he stopped and hesitated for a minute and then turned to face her. It was going to be harder then he thought. "Maybe we should get the annulment and then you can just stay here until we know that you're safe from that guy and then get you back into your place. That way no one has to know about us at the hotel or anything, just that you needed a place," he said. For some reason, he hated the thought of her leaving. He didn't want her to go back to her apartment. He was enjoying her there with him. If only it were under better circumstances. The only thing he hated about the situation was that she was in danger.

Jennifer suddenly felt more like a nuisance then a guest. For some reason, the thought of him wanting to get back to their normal lives as quickly as possible hurt her, but there was no way that she was about to let him know. This was not the time to be falling for anyone. Then again, who wouldn't have a small crush in her position? He just came in and saved her life and then took her into his home. Why wouldn't she feel close to him. "I don't feel right living with an unmarried man," she said trying to cover up what she was really thinking.

"How could it be any different from now? We both know that we're splitting up. I don't see the big difference," he said.

"Alright, let's go tomorrow then," she said just trying to go along with him. There was a certain bitterness to her voice that instantly stung him.

"I didn't mean to upset you," he said.

Jennifer forced a small smile at him. "I know, you just want everything back to normal, and I don't blame you," she said.

"Don't you?" he asked.

Jennifer nodded, but it was somewhat an act. "You didn't think that I like the idea of a man stalking me did you?" she asked.

"Never did," he said. Johnny stood up walked over to the bed. "You going solo tonight or do you still want to share?" he asked as he held up the sheet.

"Can we?" she asked.

"Sure, hop in," he said.

"Aren't you going to change?" she asked.

"It didn't bother you last night when I didn't," he said. "Besides, it saves money that way."

"Oh," she said and then climbed into bed. It was strange, but for some reason, she really didn't care at all. All she cared about was having him there by her through out the night. It seemed to her that he some how always had a way of getting out of trouble. After all, he was the one who had gotten her nude pictures back for her. Also, she would have never thought to provoke the man who was stalking her and then lead him out. She panicked, but it seemed to come naturally to him. Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn't want to know.


	8. Chapter 8

Johnny awoke the next morning and looked down at Jennifer. It was Saturday, he didn't have to go into work, and neither did Jennifer. He wanted her to sleep, so he just stayed there for a little while. It's not like he had anything better to do anyways. Her hair carelessly fell over her face. He gently reached over and brushed it back revealing a tear starting to fall from her eye. Without thinking, he took his thumb and wiped it away. Her eyes fluttered open and she awoke with a small gasp. "I didn't mean to wake you," he said.

Jennifer sat up and looked around. "I should be thanking you for doing so," she said. There was a silence as she examined the place. "You're safe." He was trying to figure out what was going through her head as she looked down and rested her head in her hands.

"Maybe you would like to do something today," he suggested as he sat up. Jennifer just sat up and looked over at him. She really wasn't in the mood to go out, but she knew it would be a good idea for her to go out and do something. Feel like normal again. "Okay, what do you want to do?" she asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. I wasn't sure about the kind of things that you like to do," he said.

Jennifer smiled up at him. "You mean to tell me that you want me to decide everything that we are going to do today?" she asked with a small hint of disbelief.

"I know I'll pay for it, but yes, I guess that's what I mean to say," he said.

"Oh, it won't be that bad, trust me," she said.

"Right," he muttered.

"Johnny?" she asked as she turned to him.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you have a suit, or anything dressy?" she asked.

"I might," he said. Jennifer played with part of the sheet that she held onto and then looked up. "Well, I would like to do some shopping by myself if you don't mind," she said.

"Go ahead," he said. Johnny was about to ask, but decided to just wait. He was sure that he didn't want to know anyways. Once Jennifer was ready he let her use his car. After she was gone he sat there and wondered about what she was up to as he sipped at his coffee. He knew that he probably did have something nice, he just didn't know what it was.

She returned back to his apartment a little bit before dinner time. He was already ready and waiting for her in his suit. He was beginning to fear more and more what she was getting ready to do. He was no good at the things that she does. The fancy dinners, the parties, any type of sophisticated social event. The only reason that he was willing to do this in the first place was so that she could enjoy herself.

"Hello," she said as she walked in. Jennifer stepped over to the bed and set her bags down and then looked up over at Johnny who was standing off to the side. "Johnny," she said with an ever so pleased smile on her face. She was surprised to see him dressed up for her. "So?" he asked. "Thank you," she said "Now you're ready for tonight."

"What do you have in the bags?" he asked.

Jennifer looked down at them and then grabbed them to carry them into the bathroom with her. "You'll see," she said.

"Will any of it be used to thank me tonight?" he asked. Jennifer just smirked at him, there was no response to that. She was grateful, and she felt about as close as any one could possibly feel with another, but she didn't know how far she should let that go.

Johnny then just waited for her to get out of the bathroom. Then again, the longer she was in there, the longer he could go without having to do what ever she was planning on pulling him through. Jennifer finally walked out wearing a soft pink gown that perfectly fit her. Her hair was neatly fixed into a bun. The split up the side of her leg showed her matching high heels. "What do you think?" she asked.

"Perfect," he said. She thanked him and then grabbed her purse and shawl and led him out to the car. Since he had no idea where they were going, she drove. Once they finally arrived, he got nervous.

"Jennifer," he growled.

She simply sighed and looked down. "I guess if you don't want to," she said. Johnny looked over at her. "I never said that I wasn't going to take you," he replied.

Johnny got out and walked around to the other side and open the door for her. They walked in through the entrance together. On the inside was a large room, it was fancy like some kind of exclusive club. He wanted to turn around and go back home, but he knew that she wanted to do this. That was the only thing that kept him there. Most of the place were tables and chairs, like a restaurant, and there was a small area for dancing.

"Before we get dinner, would you like to dance?" she asked slyly eyeing him out of the corner of her eye.

"I guess I can't do too much damage," he said and then lead her out onto the floor. The small group up front was playing a slow waltz. He didn't know much about dancing, but he knew enough to get her through the song. She stood before him and he put his arm around her waist and then grabbed her hand.

At first, the two stood a small distance from each other. It was some what awkward. Jennifer just stared off towards the side with a thoughtful smile widening across her face. She then looked up and saw Johnny questionably raising his eyebrows to her. They then slowly softened in expression. He stared down into her eyes which were no gazing up at him. Her smile went to a look of longing. With out even realizing it, the two pulled each other closer together. She leaned her head on his chest and closed her eyes. He let go of her hand and wrapped his other arm around her to embrace her. She herself did the same with him as they slowly danced.

"This place over looks the river, right?" he quietly asked.

"Yes," she said opening her eyes.

"Then why don't you come with me?" he asked. Jennifer lifted her head and then slowly backed up and looked up at him. "Okay," she agreed.

Johnny took her and lead her outside and around to the back of the building. Not too far back was a rock covered hill that lead down to the river.

"Johnny? Are you sure about this?" Jennifer asked as she tried to make her way down the hill. "It's not that bad," he said. Johnny was holding onto her hand as he guided her down. She took a wrong step and slid. Instinctively, he caught her. "Told you I shouldn't do this," she said as she stood the support of his arms.

"Just try to be more careful the rest of the way down. Okay?" he asked. She nodded and then stood on her own. To her own surprise, she made it down the rest of the way just fine. Once they were at the bottom right near the river, Johnny took a seat on one of the rocks and then motioned for her to join him. As she sat down she noticed how the setting sun made his eyes seem to glimmer a bit. The eyes that were usually hidden behind those glasses of his. Johnny now started to wish that he would have had Jennifer sit on the other side. When she turned to face him, her face was in shadow.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I think it's beautiful," she replied as she looked out on the river.

"I bet you've never done anything like this," he said as he began to softly laugh. Jennifer turned to him and raised her eyebrows. She was about to say something in protest, but then just shook her head. "No, I haven't."

"Just to be fair, I couldn't see you coming down here every weekend either," she said.

"Oh I used to," he said and then smiled at her, "the sunset was great to watch after a few joints." Jennifer just rolled her eyes.

There was a silence as they both turned and looked out over the water that was now orange from the reflection of the sun.

"Where do you think he is?" she asked still staring at the water. Johnny turned and glanced at her trying to figure out why she was thinking about that now.

"Something happen?" he asked.

"No. I just," she started and then turned to him. "I just wonder sometimes. I mean, he obviously is not right in the head."

Johnny sighed and sympathetically turned to her. "Look, I know that he scared you, and I know that it would be wrong if you weren't a little more paranoid now, but don't let one man ruin your life."

"Do you know how hard it is to let something like that go?" she asked. Jennifer sighed and turned her head forward as her eyes began to water. "I don't even know the man and then I find him in my apartment with rope and a gun. Along with that I'm married and going behind my friend's back all so that I can get through the night without having to call the police every five minutes. Now at work I have to put on some kind of act and hope that they all buy it." Tears had now started streaming down her cheeks.

Johnny looked over at her. "You've still got me," he said. Jennifer looked at him and wiped her face. She tried to speak, but nothing came out and she simply hugged him. He stroked her hair as they embraced. Jennifer then slightly pulled away and looked up into his eyes. He met her stare and slowly leaned down to her as she reached up. Their lips finally met and they sat there kissing.


	9. Chapter 9

9

Jennifer lay in bed next to Johnny. Neither of them could believe it, but they had done it again. This time, Jennifer had this feeling of guilt that she couldn't seem to ignore. "I can't believe what just happened," she said to herself and then looked over at Johnny. "Neither can I," he said smiling just about as wide as any one could ever smile.

Johnny turned and propped himself up on his elbow. He then quickly noticed the expression of sorrow on her face. "What? That was a compliment," he said.

Jennifer glared at him and then sighed as she stared up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, but I didn't think that we would do that again, especially sober."

"Well, we did have a couple glasses of wine with dinner," he said. Jennifer just sighed. "I don't think that's the same thing," she said starting to sound stressed as she sat up. Johnny sat up and curiously looked over at her.

"You know, we are married, and we are adults here," he said.

"You don't understand," she said as she rested her face in her hands. Johnny just sat back and watched her. He was beginning to wonder what was really going through her head. If she was ashamed to be with him or something.

Jennifer finally looked up at him. She was starting to wonder what she was even doing any more. "This isn't supposed to happen," she said and then got up and went over to the counter where she started making coffee.

"You mean to tell me that you plan every little thing out a week in advance?" he asked. That stopped her. He could see her eyes as she slowly lifted her head up. "That's not it," she said and then went back to what she was doing.

"Then what is it?" he asked growing impatient.

"I wasn't supposed to get close to you," she said.

"What do mean by that?" he asked.

Jennifer almost cringed. She could hear the insult in his voice. "What I mean is that, you have a girlfriend and I have a boyfriend. And looked at the situation!" she said as she walked over to him. She was gradually getting more and more excited. "We got married while we were drunk! That alone is bad to work off of! I'm staying here because I'm afraid to go back to my apartment!"

Johnny then just looked straight forward. What was he going to say to that. It was true. He simply looked to her with patient eyes. He wanted to know what she was going to say next.

She tried to actually gather her thoughts before she spoke again. She leaned herself on the counter as she looked down at the pot of coffee and then decided to pour herself a cup. She picked up the cup and stared down into it before she even considered taking a drink. Once she finally did, she sat the cup back down and ran her finger over the rim as she stared up at Johnny.

He sat there staring back at her. It seemed almost like time had just stopped right then and there. "You want to be some where else?" he asked.

It was weird, that was the complete opposite of her feelings. She was irritated, but mainly because she was confused. She had never seen herself liking some one like Johnny. The deeper reason, she didn't know why she liked Johnny. What if it was only because he had saved her and only because he saved her.

"Johnny," she said. "Look at this."

"I see," he responded raising his eyebrows.

"Look at the situation. How do you honestly see me right now?" she asked.

Johnny carefully looked her over. "Scared," he started. "And nervous. Maybe a bit paranoid. Some what vulnerable." He looked up in realization. "Oh God, you're trying to make me feel guilty about all of this aren't you?"

"Johnny, I think you just feel protective over me right now. That's all," she said. She was right. He had seen her in danger.

"And why do you suppose I was over protective in the first place?" he asked. Jennifer just stared at him.


	10. Chapter 10

10

Jennifer sat in the lobby as she read her book. Although, she wasn't really reading, there was no way that she could keep her mind on what was going on. Her head was flooded with the weekends events. Something that she could never bring herself to tell Bailey, and of course she knew Johnny would never even mention it to her.

Herb strolled out into the lobby and casually stood behind Jennifer. She could feel his eyes upon her and it was starting to bug her. "Yes?" she asked without looking up from her book. She didn't want to give him the slightest reason to stick around now.

Herb shrugged. "Anything new going on?" he asked. It was obvious that he had no idea what to say to start a conversation anymore. What was he going to do, ask how her marriage was going?

"No Herb," she replied.

"I see," he said and then leaned on her desk. She slowly lifted her head to see him standing there and staring. "Are you sure about that?" he asked.

Jennifer sighed as she laid her book down in the desk and then folded her hands and rested them on the surface. "Herb," she stated. "Just to save you the trouble, there is nothing that you could ever do or say that would get me to ever go out with you."

He raised his eyebrows and stood up. "Hey, once you realize just what you're missing, you come on back and meet me," he said.

A smug smirk came across her face. "Oh Herb, you got me there," she said.

"Yeah?" he asked as he turned to her with excitement. He then rushed over to the side of her desk and stood there.

"Yes Herb, I've always had the hardest time resisting you," she said as she stood up before him and tried to seduce him. She stood there and lustfully stared at him for a moment and then went back to normal and sat down. "But of course, I can always just ignore it," she said.

Herb just stood there and stared at her. He couldn't handle getting turned on like that and then being turned down the very next second. With out being able to speak, he turned and walked out of the room. Jennifer just smiled as she continued to pretend to read.

Andy walked through the door and stopped at her desk. "Hey Jennifer," he greeted. Jennifer put her book down and smiled up at him. "Good morning Andy," she said.

"Did you by any chance receive a phone call from a technical group, they wanted to compare how all the stations are run in the area or something like that?" he asked.

Jennifer just laughed. "You have no idea what you're talking about do you?" she asked.

"No, Mama Carlson set this whole thing up," he confessed.

"I see," she said. "But there weren't any calls. I'll let you know as soon as you get one." she said.

"Thanks Jennifer," he said and then left the room. Once he was gone, Johnny walked into the lobby and grabbed a cup of coffee. The two seemed to ignore each other's presence at first, but they were certainly aware of each other.

"Johnny?" she asked without looking away from her book.

He slowly turned to face her. "Yes?" he asked.

"I'm sorry about his morning, I was a little upset. That's all," she said as she turned to look at him. Her were filled with a genuine sincerity, but there was still something hidden. An uncertainty about something.

"Hey," he said and then shrugged. "At least I know now that you don't rush into anything you're not sure about."

They both stopped talking as Les came out into the room. "Is Mr. Carlson in his office? I need to talk to him," he said showing his impatience. Jennifer just wanted to get him out of the room so that she could talk to Johnny. "Yes he is, go right on in," she said.

"Thank you Jennifer," he said and then rushed through the door. Johnny walked over to her desk.

"Look, I know what happened last night isn't an every night deal, but it just didn't feel, right," she said.

"What do you mean? You didn't like it?" he asked.

"No. I mean that I felt like I was going behind Bailey's back. I can't steal any of my friend's dates. Maybe my enemy's dates, but not my friend's," she said keeping her voice down.

"Look, what happened last night was just a one time thing. I won't let it happen again if it makes you that uncomfortable," he said. He himself had enjoyed it, but he didn't want to give her a reason to want to rush out of his apartment. He was also feeling a little guilty towards Bailey, but for some reason, he didn't feel like he was as guilty as he should feel.

"I thought the night of the party was the only time that it would happen, but I was wrong then. Personally, I don't want to be wrong again," she said. Jennifer sighed. "There's a lot going on right now, and the last thing that I need are more personal problems to take care of."

Johnny sighed and then quickly glanced over at the door. "Hey, listen," Johnny said. As soon as he started to talk Andy stepped into the entrance of the lobby and paused at the sight of Johnny leaning towards Jennifer. "If you need to talk, we can talk tonight. Just not here, I don't know how long he's gonna stay in there."

"Alright, thank you," she said and then kissed him.

Andy's eyes just widened and he turned and walked back towards his office.


	11. Chapter 11

11

Most things seemed to be normal. Johnny was on the air and half asleep, and Jennifer sat at her desk as she read while Herb tried to ask her out. The only one who noticed anything was Andy. He had still been wondering about the kiss that he had seen earlier. The only reason that it was bothering him was because he had known that Johnny and Bailey had been dating. It was right then that she walked into his office. She was happy, or at least smiling. Certainly not the signs of a person who had just been cheated on.

"Hello Bailey," he greeted from behind his desk. He didn't want to show it but he was a little concerned. But, if she was happy, he wasn't about to be the one to change her mood.

"Hi Andy, I was wondering if I could bring some one into the station with me next week," she said.

"Some one special?" Andy asked. It didn't seem like her, but maybe she was with some one else now and was trying to spend time with them.

"Well," she hesitated. "It's my niece, I have to watch her on Wednesday." She finally spit it out. He could see the impatience building up on her face as she awaited the answer.

"How old is she?" he asked.

Her face suddenly dropped. "She's four." Her head was down towards the ground. "But she's really well behaved," she quickly added.

Andy smiled. "I'm sure that if we could handle Carlson's son, that we can handle your niece," he said.

Bailey smiled at him. "Thank you," she said. She started to walk out the door, but stopped as soon as she heard Andy's voice. "Besides, if she's anything like you, I'm sure that we'll all warm up to her."

Bailey smiled at him and then left the room. Andy just sat there for a minute. He hated to see her getting mistreated, especially behind her own back. He also knew that it was none of his business, but still, Bailey was his friend. With that thought, he got up and made his way over to Johnny who was starting a record. Andy walked in and Johnny held his hand up as he announced the song.

"What is it?" he asked as he turned around to face Andy.

Andy kept calm as he leaned against the wall. "Aren't you and Bailey seeing each other right now?"

Johnny just looked to him with a very subtle surprise. "Yes," he answered not sounding too sure of what was going on.

"Did you two by any chance break up?" Andy asked becoming a little more suspicious.

"No," Johnny cautiously answered and then pulled his sun glasses off and onto his head. "Is there a particular reason for these questions?"

"I want to know why you're cheating on her," he announced.

Johnny sighed and then looked down towards the ground. He knew that there was something wrong from the minute that And had walked into the room. There was honestly no secrets around here.

"Is Venus here?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Andy answered. There was a coldness in his voice that instantly struck Johnny, but he ignored it.

"Well, go get him to cover for me for a few minutes and I've got to talk to you before you go and tell Bailey anything," he said and then quickly raised his eyebrows. "You didn't tell Bailey. Did you?" he asked.

"No, I wanted to be sure before I did anything like that," he answered with that same bitterness. Andy just sighed. "Alright, go to my office and I'll be there in a minute."

Johnny watched him walk out and then slowly stood up. He was beginning to wonder how he had found out. "Maybe we should have told Herb that we were just testing something," Johnny said to himself.

Johnny sat on the couch as he waited for Andy to walk in. It started to strike him as odd that Andy would interfere this much. He knew that no one liked to see some one that the cared about get cheated on, but this was more than the average friend. It was starting to convince him that she was going out with the wrong guy in the building.

"Okay," Andy said. He walked in and closed the door behind him. He then went and sat down behind his desk and sternly stared at Johnny. "Let's hear it."

Johnny looked down at Andy's hands which were folded on the desk and then slowly looked up at his face. "Well," he started. "I guess if there's any place to begin, that the beginning would be the best."

"I'd say so," Andy said.

Johnny just sighed. He tried to get the words out of his mouth, but he found that he was having trouble. It was a long complicated story and he couldn't just simply sit down and tell some one. "I don't know how I can possibly tell any one this," he said and then stood up and paced to the door.

"Try it," Andy said, almost demanded.

Johnny turned and faced him. "You wanna hear it?" he asked. He was hesitant as he stopped and looked around. Once he realized that no one else could hear them, he walked up and leaned down against the desk. "You want to know why Me and Jennifer are seeing each other?" he asked.

"Just tell me why you're with Jennifer," Andy said.

"Well I'm sure that if you had a wife that you would spend a lot of time with her to," Johnny said.

Andy's face completely changed. He now looked confused and concerned over the whole thing. "What?" he asked.

"We're married," Johnny repeated and the stood up and wondered back in the direction of the door. He stopped about half way and then stared up at the ceiling while Andy just sat there as his desk wondering what to even think.

"Married? As in husband and wife?" Andy asked.

Johnny wheeled around. "No Andy, as in I gave her a cupcake and she told me that she was going to be m best friend now," he sarcastically answered. "Of course husband and wife. What else could it mean?"

"How? Why?" Andy asked as he stood up and leaned down on his desk.

"Do you remember that party that you threw a little while ago?" Johnny asked.

"Yes," Andy answered.

"Well, I don't and neither did Jennifer. We both woke up together in a hotel with a marriage license," he explained. He looked back and saw the interest in his eyes. "I wanted to get an annulment, but she kept prolonging it. I found out that she had been threatened and was scared, so I told her that she could stay with me for a few days until the whole thing blew over. We went to her apartment to grab some of her stuff. While I was waiting I noticed that she had been taking way too long so I decided to go up and see if something was wrong," he stopped and looked up at Andy.

"And?" Andy asked. His primary anger had now changed to genuine concern.

"And there was a man there ready to take advantage of her. She told me that I got there just in time," Johnny said. He looked down, but there was a painfulness in his eyes that was still visible to Andy.

"So you stayed with her to protect her," Andy said. It was intended to be a question, but came out as a statement that he was sure was true. "That explains why you two were alone in my office."

"What?" Johnny asked. He was now alert and eager to hear what happened. Johnny quickly walked over to the desk. "What were we doing?" Johnny asked.

(_It was after the party and mostly every one had gone home. The only ones that needed to stay behind were Andy and Venus. Andy had some papers on his desk that he needed to work on so he thought that he might as well finish them up. We went and opened the door to his office and froze. He could see Johnny sitting up on his desk as he looked down at a crying Jennifer. _

"_Look, he's not for real. It's all a big bluff," he explained. _

"_No. It's not. It can't be," Jennifer said. _

"_Well then you shouldn't be alone," Johnny said. _

_Jennifer just looked up at him. "What?" she asked. _

"_If I were with you, would you feel better?" Johnny asked. Jennifer simply nodded. "Okay then. Miss Marlowe, how would you like to be Mrs. Fever?" he asked. _

"_Oh Johnny. You don't have to," she said. _

"_So… what's the verdict?" he asked._

"_Yes," Jennifer said._)

"It was obvious that you both had had WAY too much to drink so I called you each a second cab. Apparently that didn't keep you two separate." Andy just stared off to the side as he sighed. "So, how's Jennifer with all of this?"

"Better now than she was the first couple of nights. She sometimes still has nightmares and wakes up in the night though," Johnny explained.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't know," Andy said.

"That's okay, you weren't supposed to," Johnny said.

There was a knock at the door that made them both quickly turn. "Come in," Andy called out.

Jennifer opened the door. Just by the look in her eyes, they could tell that something was wrong. "Andy, there's some one out there that wants to talk to you," she said.

"Alright," Andy said. He knew something was wrong, but he also could tell that she was waiting for him to leave before she said any thing to Johnny about it.

Once the two were alone, Jennifer looked over at Johnny. Her eyes now only showed worry. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"That man is after me again and he's standing out there in the lobby," she announced.

**Sorry about not updating in a long time. My grandma recently passed away and then I had exams to get ready for so I've just been extremely busy. I hope you liked this chapter. **


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Unwanted Meeting

Jennifer and Johnny stood there for a minute and thought about what to do. Johnny looked over and sighed. "Well, that can't be good," he said to himself.

"Johnny! What am I going to do?" she was obviously stressing out. "He's right out there! He knows where I work!" she said. She started pacing the room. She walked back over to Johnny and stood before him with eyes full of worry. "Johnny," she said lowering her voice. "He could follow us back to your place from here."

Johnny looked towards the door and then back at her and grabbed her shoulders. "Stay here," he said and then hurried out the door. Johnny walked down the small hall and stopped in the doorway and watched as Andy and the man talked to each other.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I just don't think that I could afford to accept an offer from some one who has just opened up their own business," he said.

The man sighed. "You know, you can trust me. I will get you the money and the second I dont, you can fire me," he said.

Andy closed his eyes for a second, there was obviously no dealing with this man. "Look," he said and then motioned then put his hand on the man's back and started guiding him towards the door. "Get your business up and running, and then come back here and there is now way that I will turn you down."

The man stopped and turned back to him. He was determined to stay there. "You're making a huge mistake," he said.

"That may be sir," Andy said.

Johnny saw that the man was about to leave and walked out into the lobby. "Hey Andy! You're needed in your office," Johnny said as he walked out.

Andy looked over and sighed as he scratched the back of his neck. "Okay," he said and then walked back to his office.

Johnny saw the man look up in interest to him. It took him a moment, but he saw that it was the man. He knew Jennifer would notice right away, but he also wanted to make sure for himself. He knew that she was paranoid and could have mistaken some one else for him. "You don't give up do you?" Johnny asked as he walked over and grabbed himself a cup of coffee.

"Haven't you ever wanted something that you have been denied?" the man asked as he walked over to him. His voice was lowered and he tilted his head down which slightly covered his face. "I mean really, really need something."

Johnny just raised his eyebrows. "Sure, but I wouldn't do what you're doing. I mean that's just crazy," he said.

"You would if the prize was worth it," he answered. There was something ominous behind his voice.

"What? A woman who you have to force to stay by your side?" Johnny asked.

"You know what I'm talking about," he said. His answers were short, but said an awful lot to Johnny.

"Look man," he said putting his coffee cup down and turning to him. "There is no doubt that Jennifer is well, one of the most desirable women out there, but that's no reason to lose you mind and get yourself into trouble over it. I mean, you gotta know when to keep going and when to give up. And let me tell you, this is definitely a time to give up," Johnny said.

"That may be so, but you know her. She didn't even stay to reject me," anger was slowly filling his body as he went further into the sentence. "I saw her, we talked in line, then, once we get out, I ask her out, and she said that it wouldn't work out," he said.

"That was because you were asking me questions that were very personal for just meeting at the store."

Both men turned and saw Jennifer standing in the doorway. There was a pause as they both looked over and watched for a second. The man evilly smirked and approached her.

Jennifer was getting scared and wanted nothing more than to run away. She wanted to turn back and leave, but he was already there and there was a lot more ahead if her that was way scarier if she turned back now.

"We needed to get to know each other sooner or later," he grinned as he ran his down the side of her hair.

"Actually, I'm glad you asked personal questions about me. It let me see what a huge mistake it would have been to actually have dated you. I just wish you would have seen what a huge mistake it was to ask me out," she stated as sternly as she could.

"Most women in your position wouldn't be so brave, I like that," he said as he examined her.

Jennifer just stood there as he watched her for a second. He then turned and looked over at Johnny. "You know, you can't always watch your little princess here. There is going to be a time that you will leave her, and trust me, I will be there," he announced and then left.

Jennifer let out a sigh of relief once he was gone. "I don't think you should have done that Jennifer," Johnny said.

Jennifer looked over. "Why not?"

"I think you just encouraged him," Johnny said and then went over to her.

"You're probably right," she said and then slowly made her way over to her desk and sat down. "What do you think we should do now?"

Johnny stood there and thought for a moment. He really didn't know what to do. The man knew where they were and how to get to them. They were found. "I don't know. Maybe we should go back to the hotel room," he said.

"I wish I knew what to do," Jennifer said and then laid her head down on her desk.

Johnny walked over and shrugged. "Maybe we could just sleep here for the night," he suggested.

Jennifer slowly lifted her head and looked up at him. "After a certain time you need a pass to get in don't you," she said.

"Yeah," Johnny said.

"You think we should?" Jennifer asked.

Johnny wasn't serious about it when he had suggested it, but it did make sense when she was going through the idea. "You want me to go back and get us a few things after my shift?" he asked.

"Yes please," she said.

"Well, I gotta go back to take my spot in the booth. I'll see you when I get done," he said.

Jennifer just smiled as he walked out of the room. She needed protection and there he was, going out of his way to make sure that she got it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Truth Comes Out

Johnny walked into the bullpen, his sunglasses pulled down to cover his tired and worried eyes, as he plopped down on the couch. He had his coffee in his hand, but at the moment it didn't seem to be doing him any good. There was too much going on all at once for him, and it was starting to all get to him.

"Hey Johnny," Bailey's voice brought him out of somewhat day dreamish kind of thought.

"I'm here," he responded raising his cup and then taking a drink. "How's it going?"

Bailey smiled as she took her seat at her desk. "Oh, pretty good. You know, the usual." Really, she had surprise for him, she had actually gotten tickets to go see The Rolling Stones and wanted to surprise Johnny tonight with them. "How about you?" She was trying to find things to talk about that could keep her from telling him about the tickets.

Johnny sighed as he sat forward and started to tap his fingers on his coffee cup. He looked up to her, her innocence, those happy eyes. Yeah, he did have his problems, but telling her what he was really worried about would only hurt her. "Peachy," he sarcastically remarked.

"That bad huh?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah, well, I'll get back to the booth and catch up on my sleep," he said. Honestly. He did need sleep. He had been waking up occasionally to check on Jennifer. She had seemed to be getting better up until this point, but now he had no idea how she was going to be tonight. He stood up and started back for the booth.

"Hey, you did remember that we have dinner tonight, right?" Bailey asked.

He stopped right before the door and slowly turned back. "Yeah, we're meeting here," he said. He had forgotten, but there was no way he was about to tell her that.

Bailey forced a smile. "Just making sure." As soon as he left she sighed and looked down. There was no way that everything could have been alright. She knew something was wrong and needed to find out.

Johnny sidestepped the booth and walked out into the lobby. He simply watched a moment as Jennifer did her nails at her desk. Smiling, he casually walked over and refilled his cup. "You seem better."

Jennifer jumped, obviously still a little shaken. "Hi Johnny," she cheerfully forced. Turning to face him, she acted as calmly as she could. Right here was not the time nor the place to show any sort of stress or vulnerability. To her, this was a private matter and it should stay that way. The only person that she figured should learn sooner or later was Bailey. Things were supposed to have been back to normal by now and they were only getting worse.

He turned and leaned back against the small counter area. "Guess who's a got a date tonight," he said making sure that they were alone.

Jennifer's smile quickly faded. She stood up and walked over to Johnny and grabbed his arm. "We need to talk," she said leading him into Mr. Carlson's office. She had no intention of telling Mr. Carlson of what was going on, but this needed to be talked about and his office was right there.

"Hey you two," Mr. Carlson said as they walked in. On his desk before him he had a train set laid out that he was working on. "Anything I can do for you?" he asked without looking up.

"No thank you Mr. Carlson," Jennifer politely declined as she closed the door. She walked over and sighed before finally talking. "Johnny, I know you're dating Bailey and I know that you don't want her to get hurt, but I can't be a lone tonight. I hate having to admit that, but I know that he knows where you live and he'll know when you leave."

Mr. Carlson slowly looked up with confusion as he was trying to piece together what he had just heard.

Johnny just let out a labored sigh as he thought about what should be done. "You saying we should go on and tell Bailey?" There was nothing else that he could think to do. It was hard for him to just tell Jennifer that she would be alright with the visible fear in her eyes.

"She's not a dumb girl, she would have figured it out sooner or later anyways," Jennifer said.

"Excuse me," Mr. Carlson said getting their attention. "Is there something going on here that I should know about?"

"Don't worry about it, Andy knows," Johnny said.

"Oh," Mr. Carlson shrugged. "Okay then carry on."

"Thanks," Johnny said and then turned his attention back to Jennifer. "Look, you go get her and I'll be waiting in Andy's office. I'll explain it to her there."

Jennifer just nodded and then went for the door as she took her hand gently wiped a tear that was waiting to fall. Johnny just followed her out leaving Mr. Carlson to sit there and wonder with concern.

Johnny went over to Andy's office and closed the door behind him. "I should warn you, I'm about to tell Bailey about everything. You might wanna take cover if you're going to be standing by me."

Andy just looked up and furrowed his brow in confusion and concern. "Well what made you change your mind so quickly? Just this morning this was the last thing that you wanted to do."

"Well," Johnny started as he sat down on the couch. "That man that was trying to sell something or whatever out in the lobby, that was the man that had been after Jennifer and I think Bailey should know that I really shouldn't leave Jennifer alone now."

Andy was about to say something, but the door opened and both Jennifer and Bailey walked through the door. "Here she is Johnny," Jennifer said leading Bailey over to the couch and softly closing the door behind her.

"What's wrong?" Bailey asked as she looked around the room.

"I think you'd better sit down for this," Andy said as he stood up and walked around to the front of his desk.

Bailey looked over to Johnny in confusion and sat down after he nodded to her. "Okay?" Seeing their expressions almost made her want to get up and leave the room.

Johnny took his sunglasses and put them on top of his head, revealing his sorrowful eyes. "I can't go out with you tonight Bailey."

Bailey stared at him for a second and then started to laugh as looked around at everyone. "How fragile do you think I am? I can handle a date being cancelled." There was a silence that over took the room and Bailey's smile began to fade. "That wasn't it was it?" she nervously asked.

"I can't go out with you because I'm married," he admitted.

Bailey started to laugh, but again, her smile faded when she saw the seriousness in his eyes. "You're not kidding," she said more to herself. "Have you been married this entire time?" she asked starting to get both anxious and angry.

"No, I haven't actually. I just got married recently," he answered.

"I see," Bailey said as she looked off towards the side. There were tears of frustration and betrayal forming in her eyes, but she did her best to hold them back. She started to try and say something, but couldn't spit any words out at the moment.

"Look, before you say anything, I think I should explain." He got a nod from Bailey, who actually didn't see how it matter, and went on to explain. "We were both drunk at the time, and she had someone that was stalking her and wanted to take advantage of her. Well, wanted to get into bed with her and possibly feeling bad, I offered to marry her. Now I'm staying with her because she was actually attacked by the man and I found out that I actually care for her and don't want her to get hurt."

"How long has this been going on?" she asked avoiding his eyes. It was getting harder and harder for her to hold back the tears and she knew that the minute she looked directly at him, that she would lose it.

"About a week," he answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She couldn't yell at him for protecting someone, but at the same time, he lied to her and betrayed her.

Johnny just shrugged. "I didn't want to hurt you," he said.

"Then why are you still with her? Wasn't there another way to help her? Maybe find a way to get her to stay with a relative or something?" Bailey asked.

Johnny just sat there and stared down towards the ground. There was nothing for him to say to that.

"Did you at least know her?" Bailey asked. It really wasn't going to make a difference who it was, it would have just hurt more to have been left for a stranger.

"Yes, we were friends," he said and then looked up to Bailey. "And if it helps we're still more like just friends."

Jennifer just stood there and watched. It was obvious that Johnny was going to avoid telling Bailey who he had married, but she couldn't live that out, lying to Bailey like that and keeping her to wonder. "Bailey," she said gently paying her hand on her shoulder. "I'm the one he married."

Bailey slowly turned to her with surprise and then suddenly just got up and left the room.

"Bailey!" Andy called out as he ran after her.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: I Didn't Mean To (part 1)

Bailey sat at Jennifer's desk in the lobby. It was the only place that she could think to go at the moment. The tears freely fell from her eyes as she thought about what had just happened back there.

A while ago, she had noticed that Johnny was acting different, but had somehow convinced herself that it was nothing. Now, after hearing that, she felt like a complete idiot. Everything was right there and she was blind to it.

"Bailey?" Andy asked trying to get her attention as he walked into the lobby. He had to sit there and watch as she was told about the marriage and hated it. Now he had to see what it did to her and wanted nothing more than to tell her that it was all a joke or something.

"What?" she shakily asked without turning to face him.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all of that," he said as he arrived at the desk and sat on the corner of it.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry that I actually believed that maybe a guy wanted to be with me instead of miss perfect." Bailey sighed and then stood up and walked over towards the door.

"Now hold on a minute," Andy said. He got Bailey to stop in her tracks. "What do you mean by that?"

Bailey could feel him watching her. Even if she wanted to be left alone at the moment, there was some odd sort of comfort to be found in the fact that he had cared enough to be there. With much hesitation, she turned to him and crossed her arms. The look of concern in his eyes allowed her to easily trust him. "I mean exactly what I said. All my life I've been second best. Just because I wasn't the last one to be invited to the party doesn't mean that I was the first one noticed when prom came around." Sighing, she let her arms drop. "I don't blame him, why go for second best when number one is right there?" The question was more to herself, but she felt as if it were being broadcasted to the entire world.

"Second best?" he asked approaching her.

Bailey dropped her arms to her sides as she sighed. Turning her head away from him she responded, "To Jennifer, and to Laurie and probably anyone else that I ever meet."

Andy stood there perplexed, as he crossed his arms. "Who's Laurie?"

Bailey looked up to him and stood there for a second. "My sister, she's a few years older than me." She stopped a second to wipe her eyes of any tears that were beginning to form. "When I was in my third year of high school, my family went to go see Laurie at her college and while I was there, I met this one guy, he was perfect, well, he was in my eyes."

Bailey couldn't help but to start to cry. She did the best that she could to maintain the little self control that she had left. "We dated for a small while. It was only a few weeks, but he was the first one to make me feel wanted."

Andy's heart had dropped as soon as he had heard the beginning of her story. Now, as soon as she paused and the tears started rolling, he could tell that there was something bad that she was getting ready to tell him. It pained him to see her this way. Anxiety began to fill him as he watched her try to gather herself and speak.

Bailey shrugged and looked off over towards the side. "I don't know why I didn't see it coming, I mean, it was Laurie that we we're talking about."

"What should you have seen coming?" Andy asked.

Bailey sighed and looked up. "I walked in on her and James! My boyfriend and my sister right there in front of me!" Bailey threw her arms down as she shook her head. "I don't know anymore." Bailey then walked off to the side and looked down for a second as she gathered herself. "And after all of that she had the nerve to come home hours before my graduation and parade around her engagement ring that he had given her!" she said quickly wheeling around back to face him.

Bailey just stood there and cried. Closing her eyes, she felt Andy wrap his arms around her. It was the first time in a while that she had felt warm or loved in the arms of someone. This was something that she had longed for with Johnny. Now, someone else was in his arms receiving something that she had never gotten from him. It was unfair how every girl around her got her own Cinderella story, while she was stuck to watch her own love being taken away from her.

"Bailey?"

Bailey lifted her head from Andy's shoulder and looked over to see Jennifer standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry. Neither of us meant to hurt you."

"You married him!" Bailey argued. She stepped back from Andy and turned to face her. "You knew we were dating and yet you went behind my back and married him! You even helped him to cover it up!"

"I didn't mean to!" Jennifer argued as she approached Bailey. "You've got to believe that Bailey! I mean, just look at the circumstance! I was drunk, vulnerable, scared, nervous, depressed. I couldn't even go home! And he was there and willing to listen!" Jennifer stopped and sighed as she tried to relax herself. "I don't remember all the details, but all I can remember is the cab ride from here to city hall and then waking up in the morning next to him. And, if it helps, I was there in Andy's office waiting for him. Johnny showing up there was just something that had occurred. It wasn't supposed to work out that way."

Bailey wiped her eyes and thought for a minute. "You know, you may not have meant to do anything, but when someone gets in a car accident and kills someone, they didn't mean to do that either, but they still did it."

Bailey just walked past everyone and back over into Andy's office. She thought that when she got there that she would see Johnny still sitting there, but he was already gone. It hurt her to know that he would be avoiding her now, but it was also a relief that she wouldn't have to be reminded of past events whenever she saw him now. Instead of going to look for him, she had decided to sit down at the desk and finally cry her heart out at everything that had happened.

Jennifer watched her leave and then hurried off to the booth where she knew he would be. Before actually going in, she stood out in the hall for a moment and watched him through the small window. She could see his glazed over eyes as they blankly stared forward towards the wall. She entered into the room and silently approached him. "Johnny?"

Johnny slightly turned and looked up at her. "Yes?" There was nothing else for him to say at the moment. He knew that she was going to tell him to go talk to Bailey, but he couldn't. He couldn't go out there and face the one that he had just hurt so badly. He couldn't go out there and sit through her yelling at him about how she had trusted him and loved him and how he had broke her heart.

"I think you should go talk to Bailey," Jennifer stated.

She was able to keep her posture, and she was able to hold the tears back, but Johnny could see it that she was hurt. "I really think that I should wait a little bit," he said in protest.

"Well, okay, but I think I should tell you that today, I'm going to go over to your apartment, grab my things and go find somewhere else to stay. I also think that we should go out and get the annulment sometime this week," she said.

"You don't have to," he started, but Jennifer held her hand up.

"I know that normally when it comes to fighting over a guy, I wouldn't mind going for what I want, but this is completely different. I went between two of my friends who were dating and lied to one as I married the other. I actually hurt two people that I cared about and I don't think that I can handle that," she explained. With that, she turned and left.

Johnny wanted to stop her, but he knew that she wouldn't listen to him. As she walked away from him, an uneasy feeling of dread overcame him. The obvious threat was still following her. He should have stopped her, but she wasn't about to listen now. As soon as it began getting dark he was sure that he could get her to change her mind.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 : I Didn't Mean To (part 2)

Jennifer stood at her desk as she gathered her things. All the thoughts ran through her head as to what could happen to her that night if she had stay alone. The only thought that she could cling onto for hope at the moment was the thought that maybe be was just bluffing. Even that was quickly fading away from her. Her eyes that were filled with fear and worry were about to release the unshed tears that she had done so well to hide until now. Without a second thought, she rushed out of the lobby and headed towards the elevator.

It was the moments like these that always seemed to take forever. "Thank God," she muttered as she finally was able to enter into the empty elevator. Once the doors closed, was when she let herself go. Her body slid down the wall and her arms wrapped around her knees as she pulled them up to cover her face. The tears flowed out, but she really didn't care anymore. Everyone had had their braking points, and this was hers.

The control that she one had, was now gone. One man out there was controlling her life and ruining it. Every minute of the day there was the feeling of paranoia that she could not avoid. There was also the fact that she had let one of her personal problems run other people's lives.

The door began to open and she quickly pulled herself up and wiped her face. The walk from there to the door was a short one, but she felt as if people were staring at her. The quicker that she got out of there, the better.

* * *

Bailey sat at her desk back in the bullpen. She figured that if she had something to concentrate on, that maybe she would be able to allow herself to feel better. The more that she thought abut it, anything had to be better than what she felt now. Once you felt betrayed and alone, there was no way that you could go down any further.

Les walked into the room. He had papers in his hand and a smile on his face. "Good afternoon Bailey," he greeted as he walked passed her desk and over to his "office" area.

"Good afternoon Les," she forced with a small amount of fake enthusiasm.

"Something wrong Bailey?" he asked from his desk.

Bailey felt like a fool, and really didn't want to talk about it. Instead of telling him the truth, she just made up something so that he would leave her alone. Picking her head up, she looked over to Les and sighed. "My family is having a party and I really don't want to go. All its going to be is a few hours of people questioning me on why I don't have a steady boyfriend yet."

"Is that really it?"

Bailey turned and saw Herb standing in the doorway. She would usually just roll her eyes to him, but this time there was something different about him. There was something different in his smile, almost malicious. "I don't know Herb, what do you want it to be?" she asked.

"I think its because you just found out about Johnny and Jennifer," he said. He wasn't trying to get her to break down, he was hoping that it would cause her to go out and get Johnny back so that Jennifer would be single again.

Bailey just stared to him with disbelief. "You knew?" she asked with disbelief. Her eyes followed him while he shrugged and made his way over to his desk. Quickly, she stood up and rushed over. "Herb, you've got to tell me how you know about that."

Herb looked over and saw the pleading in her desperate eyes. "Okay, fine," he said as he sighed. "They didn't know I was there in the next room when they were talking and I over heard them. It was when they were talking about the annulment. After he found out that she was in danger, he told her that they could wait and that she could stay with him, that's the part where I went to go save her."

"I'm sure you did," Bailey said as she rushed out of the room. Out in the hallway, she stopped as soon as she saw Johnny leaning against the closed door behind him.

"Hey Bailey." His greeting was without emotion.

"I know that it shouldn't matter, but which one was it that wanted to stay together?" Bailey asked. Her eyes eagerly watched him as she nervously played with her hands. There was one answer that she was hoping for.

Johnny tilted his head and looked over. "Look, she was getting stalked. I walked into her apartment to see her tied up on the floor with a gun to her head. I couldn't let her go off on her own."

Bailey's head slowly dropped. Her eyes were focused on the ground because she knew that if she tried to look up at him, she would start to cry. "That's what I was afraid."

"What?" Johnny stood up straight and removed his sunglasses from his face.

"You actually care for her. If you were really worried about hurting my feelings over this, you wouldn't have let all of this go so long," she said. It had hit her when Herb was talking to her, Johnny actually cared about Jennifer. Tears, again that day, had began to fill the rims of her eyes. "More so than you do me."

Johnny just watched her as she shook her head and then walked down the hall. He hated to see her like this, but he also couldn't argue with her at the moment. All he could think about was what Jennifer was going to do. There was part of him that had actually gone beyond just thinking that she was attractive, the part that wondered if she was serious about leaving and whether or not she would make it through the night without being paranoid.

"Hey man, what's up with her?" Venus asked after passing Bailey.

Johnny just sighed and looked over to him. "I might as well tell you now, I'm married to Jennifer because she had a stalker and now Bailey knows about it and hates me for it."

Venus just raised his eyebrow. "You married Jennifer? The blonde receptionist in the lobby?" Johnny nodded his head. "How the hell did you manage that?" he asked.

Johnny shrugged. "We were drunk."

"Well, just make sure you get things straightened out before Bailey and Herb get together and kill you," he said and then walked into the booth.

Johnny turned and walked into the bullpen where Andy was standing in the opposite door looking like he wanted to punch Herb.

"So you rub it in?" Andy yelled as Herb sat at his desk with his feet up.

Herb was about to sit up and state his argument, but Johnny stepped in. "Andy, I know this will be the only time you'll ever hear this from me, but its not Herb's fault. If you're going to yell at someone."

Andy was about to say something, but, Bailey walked in. "You can't yell at someone for how they feel," she said and then sat down on the couch. She may have been hurt, but she did believe in what she had said. With her eyes closed she could still feel everyone staring at her. They had expected something else from her. Opening her eyes, she soon realized was a mistake, all it did was reveal how watery and glazed over her eyes had been from crying. The one person that she could think to look to in the room was Andy. "It's alright, really. Sometimes you just have to accept the fact your life isn't a fairytale and that I'll never be the princess."

Andy sighed as he looked over to her with pity. He didn't want to say anything because it would bring attention to what they had talked about earlier, but he did want. More than anything, to just tell her that that was not at all true.

The door opened and Mr. Carlson rushed through. His face was full of worry and looked as if he were in shock. "Jennifer's been shot," he announced.

The entire room fell silent as everyone exchanged glances. Most in the room felt guilty at the moment for one reason or another.

"What I want to know is why anybody would want to shoot her," Mr. Carlson said more to himself.

Herb smirked as he looked over to Bailey. "Beats me sir."

The smug look on his face was enough to make Bailey want to strangle the little weasel. "What are you trying to say?" she asked. The growing annoyance was evident in her voice.

"Herb," Andy hissed. Guilt was the last thing that Bailey needed at the moment.

Johnny could see that he was going to give everyone a hard time, so he walked over and sat down on Herb's desk. "Don't," he warned.

"Coming from the man who was supposed to be protecting her," Herb said.

That took it too far. Johnny stood up and was about to punch Herb, but Bailey spoke up. "I think we should be heading to the hospital instead of fighting." This was something from her own guilt. Even though she was still angry with her, there was no way that she could live with knowing that she set up a murder attempt. It wasn't a direct set up, but she knew t hat she was the one who had caused her to walk out and go where ever she went.

Johnny stopped and looked over. She was right. "You're right," he said letting out a sigh.

"Let's go," Andy said.

Johnny, Andy, and Bailey were the first ones to walk out of the room as Herb, Les, and Mr. Carlson stood there. "What on earth was that all about? Is there something going on here that I should know about?" Mr. Carlson asked.

Herb stood up and looked around. He was about to tell him what had been happening, all just to get someone against the three at the moment, but there was the thought of Jennifer killing him once she got out of the hospital. If she didn't, he knew who he was going to blame. "Nope," he plainly said as he walked passed him and left.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Waiting Room

Johnny sat in the waiting room as he just blankly looked around. The only thought in his head at the time, was, what if? What if he hadn't gone into Andy's office that night? Then she would have gone with him and probably would still be sitting in the lobby. What if he and Jennifer had just told Bailey right away, or maybe not have told her at all? Wouldn't she still be unwounded? What if he would have stopped her from leaving? The one mistake that kept playing over and over again in his head. How could he had just let her walk out like that? He knew that there was nothing good that could come from that. He should have stopped her. If he would have said something, she wouldn't be laying in a hospital bed right now.

Bailey sat there as she watched the other people that were there waiting. The nurses all did the same thing up to a certain point. She would walk out and call out what ever name that she needed and then wait for a response from someone and walk over closer to them. That was where things changed. Some groups would get the look of relief on their face and smile, while others were more excited and hugged each other. Then there was the bad news version, the one where some would blankly stare up at the nurse or where they would hug each other and leave, while others would just sit back and cry. They were all in a waiting room, and soon it was going to be their turn to either celebrate that someone who could have died lived, or walk out of there wishing that they could have celebrated.

Bailey leaned her head back and sighed. If anything were to go wrong, she would feel even worse than she did now. It was awful not even knowing how bad the shot was. Someone by now could have at least told them where she had gotten shot. But no, instead, Bailey sat there going through all the possible outcomes in her head, and tried to prepare herself for each of them. Prepare herself for both the realization that her actions have consequences, and what Johnny's reaction might be to each announcement.

Andy sat there and kept looking at both Bailey and Johnny. He himself did not think that she could be that badly hurt. He kept telling himself that if she were really that bad, that she wouldn't have made it to the hospital. He was hoping this for everyone's sake. There was no reason for him to feel guilty, but he did. This was not the place that he had walked into a few years ago. He wanted badly to go back to the time where everything was happy and random off the wall things happened. The random things still happened, but it was hard to laugh about them when people's personal problems started building on each other's and hurting other people.

The others, Herb, Mr. Carlson, Les, and Venus were all still at the station vowing that they would come in later. Andy had called them on the phone once they had arrived at the hospital and told them that right now the three there needed to be alone with Jennifer. He figured that once Jennifer woke up that both Johnny and Bailey will be wanting to talk to her.

"Johnny Caravella?"

Everyone turned and looked at the nurse. Johnny gathered himself as he stood up. "Over here," he called out to her. His eyes followed her as she walked closer to him. It was hard to tell if her face was serious or grim and it was making him even more anxious.

"Mr. Caravella," she said looking up at him from the papers in her hand. "May I speak to you in private?"

It hit him then. Something was wrong, there was never a reason to talk to someone when the patient was fine. "Is there something wrong?" His nerves were beginning to tense up.

"Just come with me sir," she said as gently grabbed his arm and lead him out of the room.

Bailey watched the two leave and then turned to Andy. "How bad?" she asked.

The fear in her voice struck him. "She's gotta be still alive if that means anything to ya," he said. He was hoping that that was the only thing that was freaking her out about the situation at the moment.

Bailey sighed as she looked down. "Just because she took him to talk?" The energy was drained from her voice. It seemed like, at that moment, she had just given up. The guilt had gotten to her and it was too much. All in one day she went from wondering why she was never the one, to wondering how she could have caused something like this to happen.

Andy leaned forward to try and get a small glimpse of her face. "Bailey," he said as he gently laid his hand on her shoulder. "If she were dead, they would have come right out and said it. I didn't see the other family over there have someone pulled out into the hall before they said anything."

Bailey slowly lifted her head and looked to him with emotionless eyes. She could see him, just waiting for a response with open arms ready to help her. There was no reason to care about being vulnerable anymore, that had gone straight out the window when she had told him about her sister Laurie. "Okay then, tell me. Why couldn't they have said anything out here in front of us? Is it really that good of news Andy?"

Andy dropped his head in defeat. He then grabbed her shoulders and leveled his eyes with hers. "Bailey," he started. "You have got to listen to me! You have nothing to do with this! First off, both Johnny and Jennifer had been feeling bad about this for a while! She was bound to do something like that! Second, and most importantly, it wasn't you, it was that man, what ever his name is. You didn't pay him, and you certainly didn't hand him the gun or pull the trigger for him!"

Bailey just stared as her eyes widened. He was right, but why didn't it take the guilt away? Sure, it was eased, but it was still there. "It doesn't really matter whose fault it is anyways."

Johnny followed the nurse and they both stepped out into an almost empty hallway. "You are her husband right?" she asked.

That was something that he had not heard from anyone yet, and honestly, he kind of liked it. "Yes." He wanted her to get straight to the point.

"Mr. Caravella, your wife was beaten and then shot a few times. All three were in the abdomen area. One nicked the small intestines, but that isn't anything to worry about, that one is easy to fix. it's the other two that we're worried about. Her kidneys are both ruined. We need to find her a donor." She paused for a second to see how he was taking this so far. "Do you think you could?"

Johnny looked up to her in surprise. He was sure that hers were somehow still in better working condition than his should be by now. "I'll think about it," he said. He wanted to, he just didn't know if he was really able to.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: What You Mean to Me

Johnny walked out and saw Bailey in Andy's arms. Without him even having to say a single word, they pulled apart and looked to him. His face had obviously given away the fact that they had to look forward to hearing bad news, but there was still the undying curiosity as to how bad the news was, which in turn would allow Bailey to either lighten up on herself, or let the guilt dig in deeper. "Well," Johnny started with a sigh. He gathered his thoughts as he scratched the back of his head. It was as if today's events had not began to sink in yet. "She needs a kidney."

Bailey completely pulled herself away from Andy and carefully watched Johnny. She could see it in his eyes, he instantly hated the man who had shot her. His eyes, even though they weren't looking at hers, caused the guilt to slowly come back to her. "Does she need one of mine?" The moment that it had slipped out, she wondered how she even thought about saying that. She wanted Jennifer to live, and was about to give a lot to save her, but the idea of just giving away an organ didn't go over too well with her. On top of her own doubt, she could feel Andy staring at her.

"Now Bailey, that was awful quick wasn't it?" Andy asked. He wanted Bailey to find a way to get over her guilt, but there had to be a line drawn. Something like that had to really be thought about and he wasn't about to just let her go through with that without a moment of thinking.

Bailey was about to argue, but Johnny stepped in. "He's right, you can't just give a kidney away as if it were candy."

"This is a bit more important than candy," Bailey said as she looked up to him, but then just sighed in defeat. It was easy to tell that neither of them were going to give in to her at the moment. "Fine, but if she does really need it, get me." And with that, she went and sat down in the waiting area. Although she was somewhat relieved, she hated the idea that they had automatically told her that she wasn't stable enough to make a decision for herself at the moment. She knew that she wasn't, but she didn't like being told to think it through.

Johnny just walked off down the hallway. He honestly just felt like being alone at the moment. There was so much on the line and so little that he could actually do to help. This entire time he had wanted to prevent this from happening, and now here she was laying in a hospital bed. He had failed. He had failed her when she needed him.

Andy just stood there in the now open space. There was nothing to do but watch how each reacted to their guilt, and hope that neither went overboard. He decided to walk over to Johnny and see what he was thinking. There had to be more behind the glossed over eyes that he was showing. "You alright over here?" he asked as he approached him. It was a bad question, but it was a safe way to approach the subject at the moment.

"Oh yeah, just perfect," Johnny answered with his back still to him. He waited a second, and then turned to look at him. Letting out a sigh, he gathered how he should answer the upcoming question of what he was going to do. "I think she needs one of my abused ones."

"Listen, you haven't even been checked out yet. You don't even know whether or not you can donate an organ," Andy said.

Johnny again sighed. His eyes set on Andy's. Without saying a word, he started to walk away. Everything was happening so fast, and all he wanted to do was get away for a few minutes. Before he could get down the hall, the same nurse who had talked to him earlier got his attention and let him know that Jennifer was awake and that he could go see her. "Listen," he said as he thought for a moment. "That young lady there, she's her sister, can I bring her in with me?" He knew that Bailey was feeling guilty and wanted her to be able to have a chance to talk to her.

She thought for a moment. "You know, she really isn't up to much right now, there should be only one person in there at the moment." She was protesting his request, but deep down she could see why he had made it.

"Come on, what do you think we're going to do in there? Throw a wild party? It's just a couple of family members going to check on her," Johnny explained. Patience was not something that he actually had at the moment.

"Alright," she sighed in defeat. "Follow me."

They both followed in silence until they got to her room. Each nodded as they stood there and listened to the nurse warn them about Jennifer being weak and to be gentle with her.

"Oh God," Bailey quietly gasped at the sleeping woman before her as they entered the room. Jennifer lay there with a swollen black eye and a few stitches down her cheek. There were no casts, so she didn't have any broken bones, which was one, possibly the only good thing at this point.

Johnny walked ahead of Bailey and stood at the side of the bed as he looked down on her. His heart dropped at the sight of her. He didn't know exactly what had happened, but his imagination went for it, and he hated the images that came to mind.

"Johnny?" she weakly asked her eyes opened.

"I don't think you should really be talking at the moment. Try and just take it easy," he said. The last thing that he wanted was for Jennifer to get any worse.

"Jennifer?" Bailey piped up from in the background. She had originally wanted to wait a while, but there was something that told her she had better just say what she needed to say and leave. Approaching the bed, she could see her gently begin to smile. "I'm sorry," was all she could say.

Jennifer shook her head. "Not your fault," she weakly whispered. She had known that something like this was going to happen from the very beginning. If anything, Bailey had done what she had taught her to do, stand up for herself. Deep down, she truly believed that this was how it was all supposed to end up. There was no way that she could easily slip out of the situation that she was in, and there was no way that she and Johnny could have a relationship like that without hurting Bailey. She was just simply lucky to have as much time as she did. "I chose to go back on my own."

Bailey wasn't about to argue with her, she wanted to, she wanted to tell her that she was guilty and prove it to her, but that would only be worse for her at the moment. The best thing that she could do was to accept her forgiveness and leave. She leaned down and gently hugged her. Standing up, she wanted to say something, but couldn't. Instead she just faintly smiled to her and left.

Johnny just stood there and looked down to her with a guilt filled pity. There was nothing he could say nor nothing he could do. It had all come down to chance, and he didn't like what he had heard so far on that.

"I think I prefer the way that you used to stare at me when you would picture me naked," she said bringing him back to reality.

"Look," he said as he sighed. "I think I should really get going and let you rest." There was a moment of hesitation as he thought of what to say to her. "But before I go, I should apologize to you. I should have stopped you and when you left, I should have followed you or something. Instead I just sat there," he was cut off by her reaching over and grabbing his hand.

"You've done a lot for me, and I'm grateful. There's no reason t feel responsible over anything," she said. Jennifer knew that he and Bailey felt guilty, and she knew why. The only problem was, she was the one that left. No one made her go, she chose to leave. Having people feel sorry for her and feeling guilty over what happened was the last thing that she had wanted.

Johnny noticed her breathing becoming more shallow. Without another word, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you," he said and then left.

Jennifer just stared in his direction until the door closed behind him. That was the first time she had heard those words seriously come out of his mouth since they had been together.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: What You Mean to Me (Part 2)

The orange glow from the sunset shown into the front window of Johnny's car and reflected off his sunglasses. The sky above him was already a dark blue. All he wanted to do was stare out the window. Think about everything that had happened up to this point. How he and Jennifer had actually lived like a married couple, how it was nice to have someone to go home to, to share a bed with.

He was brought out of his thoughts as soon as the car behind him honked, signaling to him that the light had turned green. Reluctantly, he started to drive again. Not too far down the road, he saw the hall that Jennifer had gotten him to take her to. Without giving it much thought, he pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car. Didn't want to go in, but instead he went around to the back and started towards the river.

_"Johnny? Are you sure about this?" Jennifer asked as she tried to make her way down the hill. "It's not that bad," he said. Johnny was holding onto her hand as he guided her down. She took a wrong step and slid. Instinctively, he caught her. "Told you I shouldn't do this," she said as she stood the support of his arms._

_"Just try to be more careful the rest of the way down. Okay?" he asked. She nodded and then stood on her own._

"Better be careful," he softly reminded himself as he walked down the rocks. All he could think about was when he had brought Jennifer with him down there. That was really one of the first times that they just talked.

Getting to the shoreline at the bottom of the rocks, he sat down and looked towards the disappearing sun behind the river. There was nothing there to distract him from his own thoughts. He truly was alone right now. Although there was a calmness that over came him, it brought along a depression. As the darkness slowly filled the air around him, he took off his sunglasses and blankly stared before him.

_Johnny looked over at her. "You've still got me," he said. Jennifer looked at him and wiped her face. She tried to speak, but nothing came out and she simply hugged him. He stroked her hair as they embraced. Jennifer then slightly pulled away and looked up into his eyes. He met her stare and slowly leaned down to her as she reached up. Their lips finally met and they sat there kissing._

"I better get out of here," he said to himself as he stood up. This was too much for right now. At the moment he needed sleep. He needed to be able to think clearly, and this was definitely not helping. Slowly, he got himself back to his car and drove home.

Andy offered to drive Bailey home that night. Most of the ride was silent as Bailey stared out the window. The events of the day had kept playing through her head, like a movie that would start over as soon as it ended.

"Here we are," Andy announced as he pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building. Not getting a response, he started to wonder if she had fallen asleep. "Bailey?" he asked in a second attempt to get her attention.

Bailey was pulled out of her thoughts and slowly turned to Andy. "Thanks." She quickly flashed a soft smile and then went to get out of the car.

Andy could see that she was still shook up, so he decided to get out and walk her to her apartment. He just wanted to make sure that she was okay. As he stood up and looked over the hood of the car, he could see Bailey turn to him with surprise. "I think I could make it to my own apartment," she told him.

"Maybe I want the company for a couple more minutes," he casually said as he shrugged.

Bailey looked down and sighed in defeat. When she brought her head back up, there was a weary, subtle smile. Without saying anything, she started towards the entrance way. Andy caught up to her and walked her across the small parking lot. "Well," she said. "I think I can manage the rest of the way by myself. "I just have to go up one floor and down the hall."

"You sure?" Andy asked, not really wanting to leave her right now.

"Yeah," she said as she nodded. "I'm sure."

"Well, okay then. Good night," Andy said and then started back towards his car.

Bailey stood there and watched him for a second and then lowered her head to the ground. As soon as she looked back up, ready to cry, she asked something that had been on her mind. "You think he would do the same thing for me?"

Andy stopped in his tracks and turned back to face her. "What?" he asked not knowing how to take the question.

"Do you think that Johnny would have done the same thing for me? If it were switched and he was dating Jennifer and I was the one who was in trouble, do you think that he would have done the same thing for me that he did for her?"

Andy sighed as he walked back over to her. He couldn't stand to see her cry, and there was no doubt that she was about to. "What makes you think that he wouldn't?" Andy asked.

Bailey shrugged. "I don't know. It just, it all just seems like he chose her over me. I know its bad, but that's what it sounded like to me back at the station. It got me wondering if he would do that for me."

Andy sighed as he took hold of her shoulders. "Bailey," he said and then waited for her to look up to him. "He was dating you, he obviously had feelings for you. You just have to realize that sometimes in situations like that people get close to each other. Put yourself in his place, you see someone in danger, you help them and then you find out that they could get hurt again. You feel protective over them and in that process you probably would develop some feelings for them." He let go of her shoulders and watched her for a second to see how she would react to what he was telling her. "Besides," he added since he didn't get a response. "This all started when they were drunk. You tend to love everyone at that point."

"The point is, he went to her when he was drunk, not me. And she could've talked to anyone at that point, and he chose to be the one that she talked to. I can't see him going through any of what he did for her, for me. He might save me like he did her in her apartment, but i doubt that he would take me in or anything else that might of happened." Bailey looked off to the side and watched the traffic out in the street. She knew that Andy wasn't completely understanding what she was saying. That was when the tears finally started to fall. "I mean, if my own boyfriend wouldn't," she started, but couldn't manage to finish.

"I would," Andy said.

That caught Bailey's attention. "What?" she asked as she wiped her face.

"I would."

A smile came across her face as she hugged him. Andy took her in his embrace and held her there as he stroked her hair.

Johnny walked into his now empty apartment. Turning on the lights, he closed the door behind him and looked around. Her clothes, her things, even the cup that she had used for her coffee that morning were all still there. Everything was still there, except for her presence. Her threat was gone, and as soon as she got out of the hospital, which he was going to make sure that she did, she would be going back to her place. There was no reason for her to be there with him anymore. It might have only been for a little while, but it had completely changed his life. He had something to care about, and now that was gone.

Walking over, he sat down on the bed and looked over to what was Jennifer's side. Neatly made, cold, and untouched. Of course, it would have been this way even if she did come home with him, no one had been there all day. Without giving it another thought, he simply laid down and stared up at the ceiling. There was nothing else to do at the moment but think, and that too was becoming harder to do.

Jennifer laid there in the hospital room thinking about what Johnny had said to her earlier. That was one of the only times that she had been told she was loved and she believed it. After the past week, she would have to believe it.

"I wish he were here right now," she softly said to herself as she tried to sleep. She wasn't used to sleeping alone anymore, and now it felt weird. It shouldn't, but it did.

The next day came, and Johnny naturally took the day off of work. There was too much on his mind to even consider going in. Instead, he headed to the hospital.

Johnny walked through the doors and headed straight for the front desk. "I wanna be tested to see if mine will work for her."

"What?" the receptionist asked as she looked up to him with confusion.

Johnny sighed and took a second to calm himself down. "Okay, I am Johnny Caravella, and I want to see if I am able to give one of my kidneys to the patient Jennifer Marlowe. She is my wife, and she needs one, and I think that I should be the one to give it to her."

The receptionist nodded her head. "Alright sir, I'll get back to you in a moment on that. Please go and wait in the waiting room."

"Thank you," he said and then walked away from the desk. He then paused and slowly turned back to her. "Oh, and could you do me one more favor?"

"What's that?" she asked.

"The patient doesn't have to know where the organs come from, do they?" he asked.

"I guess we could just tell her that it was donated," she said.

"Thank you," Johnny said and then continued to walk back to the waiting area.

**Sorry about the long wait. I had writer's block with this for a while, and then I wasn't home all summer. I hope the wait was worth it. **


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Gone

Johnny walked into the quiet room. Jennifer lay there in her bed sleeping. She looked so peaceful to him, so peaceful that instead of actually walking up to the bed, he stood only a few feet in from the door. There was no need to disturb the picture before him.

Right now, she was the only thing that mattered. He was able to give her what she needed to live. He was able to save her life. That to him, meant more than anything else. All along he had wanted to keep her safe, and now he was finally able to save her.

Another thing on his mind at the moment was what was going to happen after this. Where she would be staying, whether or not they would go through with an annulment, if they could still go through with one. It was obvious that things would not just go back to normal, that was impossible at this point. He and Bailey were definitely finished at this point, and there was no doubt that he and Jennifer were closer. Things would certainly be happier though. He was sure that Bailey would move on, that was really the only one that he was worried about besides Jennifer.

"Hello?"

Startled, he turned and lifted his sunglasses to clearly see the woman standing behind him in the doorway. Her blonde hair lay in soft curls that rested on her shoulders, her blue eyes confused as they studied him. The pinkish cheeks with the same high cheek bones that Jennifer had. She had to be in her mid twenties at the oldest. "May I ask who you are?" she asked with her southern accent.

"Johnny Fever," he answered.

"Johnny Fever?" she asked as she started to crack a small smile. "Well now, I've heard a few things about you."

"Anything good?" he asked. This was someone he had never seen before, but the fact that she was familiar with him interested him. At this point, he completely took off his sunglasses and put them on the collar of his shirt.

The young lady laughed. "Would I tell you if it were bad?"

He chuckled as he shrugged. "I guess not." He then sighed as he crossed his arms. At this point, he could see that she had been related to Jennifer. There were too many similarities to have not been. "May I ask who you are?"

She smiled. "Jean Marlowe," she extended her hand to him and he shook it. "Her sister. We got the call that Jen here had been shot so I came up to see for myself how she's doing."

Johnny saw her look over his shoulder as her smile faded. He turned his head over his shoulder to see the same image that she was. Jennifer, laying there in the hospital bed completely dependant. For as long as he had known her, and he was sure for as long as Jean had known her, she had never been dependant, never once. She always managed to get what she needed on her own. Now, she needed other people and machines just to live. He had watched her slowly fall apart, and this was what it had all come to.

"I was hoping that she would be awake, I sorta had something I needed to talk to her about."

Johnny turned his attention back to her. "What?' he asked.

Jean shrugged as she looked down. "I know its short notice and a bit rash, but I was sent to see if Jen wanted to move back in with all of us for a little bit. Ma heard what had happened and threw a fit. Plus, I heard she's getting the transplant, she'll need time to recover and someone to watch her."

They wanted to take her away. "I see," was all he had to say. What was there to say to that? His heart had just been torn out of his chest. "I guess I'll leave you two alone, that way when she wakes up, you can talk." He put on his sunglasses and left.

As he walked out of the hospital, he tried to reason with himself. Telling himself that she was only a friend. That this was all meant to be temporary. She lived with him only for protection. He only felt the way he did because of what he saw her go through. None of these feelings were real. Desperately, he tried to convince himself of these thoughts, but it was no use. Every scene of their time spent together played through his head. From his first time meeting her to watching her walk out of the station before she got shot. Why would he remember all of that when there were times he could barely remember what he did the previous night? There had to be something more to it.

It didn't matter now though. She was going to be leaving. Instead of torturing himself even more, he just got in the car and left.

Bailey sat up in her dark apartment, where the only light was coming from the kitchen. It was late after work as she stared out over the road before the building she lived in. The white glow from the streetlights flooding the roads and sidewalks. Random people and cars going about as usual.

It had been weird for her at work today. There was no Johnny and no Jennifer, the place seemed quiet. Both Andy and Mr. Carlson had mostly been staying in their offices, Les was now handling all the news since she had been filling in for Jennifer, Venus pretty much stayed to himself, and Herb seemed to have all the life sucked out of him.

This was in fact rare to see, everyone was on their own. Any other time that something had happened, the people there seemed to pull together, but this time they all went their separate ways. She was hoping that when Johnny came back that maybe they would stop keeping to themselves to much.

This was when she got the urge to call him. Ever since she had heard about Johnny and Jennifer, she had considered them over, which to her meant that the phone calls were over, but this time was different. She had to know how Jennifer was doing and when he was going to be coming back. The place just wasn't the same without them there and everyone needed things to start to go back to normal.

Without even thinking about it, she walked over to the phone and dialed his number. The nervousness and school girl excitement that she usually had when calling a boy was gone, and for some reason that annoyed her. It was obvious as to why se was so somber at the moment, but it was making her dread the second that he would pick up the phone.

Johnny paced his apartment as he tried to think. Jennifer was most liking going to leave with Jean, and he was going to have to move on. He kept thinking to himself, that he had lived without her before he had met her, but that was failing. It was like an alcoholic saying that they were able to live without alcohol before they tasted it, once you knew what it was like it was extremely hard to learn to go on without it.

His thoughts were interrupted as the phone rang. He froze as he looked over, as if he had never heard the sound before. After the brief moment of just standing there, he walked over and answered it. "Hello?"

"Johnny? It's Bailey," she stated. She was just relieved that he had answered the phone. For a moment she thought that maybe he wasn't there, and at this time, that just wasn't a good thing. As she thought about what to say next, she turned her back to the kitchen and leaned her shoulder against the wall. Her finger was starting to get tangled within the phone wire as she played with it. "I was just wondering how Jennifer was doing, and how you're doing."

Johnny sighed as he looked down. "Well, I can tell you that she is going to live."

There was a bitterness to his voice that instantly struck Bailey. "I'm sorry if I asked too soon, I…"

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that. That was supposed to be the good part of it," he said.

"Oh?" Bailey asked. She stopped leaning against the wall and stood up straight. There was something wrong and she wanted to know. Her curiosity had been sparked.

Johnny stood there in his small little kitchen as he stared down to the ground for a moment. "Look, Bailey, can I trust you not to tell anyone this if I tell you what's going on?" He knew he could trust her, he just wanted to point out to her how important this really was to him.

"Sure," she said starting to get concerned.

"Okay, well, the good part, I can save her. I can give her my kidney."

"Well that's great," Bailey said starting to feel slightly relieved.

"Thanks, but I want to keep that a secret. If anyone asks why I'm not at work, just tell them that I'm staying with Jennifer at the hospital until her family gets there." He knew that this must all sound extremely suspicious, but he couldn't have Jennifer know what he was going to do for her. There was no real reason to it, it just didn't feel right having her know.

Bailey was again starting to get worried. "Why?"

"I just wanna wait for the right time, alright?"

"Yeah." Bailey stood there and waited as she went back to her former position leaning against the wall. "Was there anything else you should tell me?" It was at this time a risky question, but she had to ask.

He could tell her. There was no reason to not trust her. The only thing was that he himself didn't know if he could bring himself to tell her. He didn't even like to think it, let alone say it out loud. "Well, Jennifer might not be coming back."

"Oh no," Bailey gasped.

"No! No, its okay. She's gonna be fine. Its just that her sister came up today saying that she was sent to bring Jennifer home with her back down to West Virginia."

"I'm sorry," Bailey said.

"We're gonna let her choose where she wants to go, but I have a feeling that she'll leave."

"Maybe she won't." She could hear the hurt in his voice and wanted to help him. Even if it was hard, she had to get him to stay at least a little positive.

"What would you do?" he asked.

Bailey sat there and thought a minute. "Well, I certainly wouldn't the man who saved my life."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: He Still Cares

Johnny sat there, staring blankly out the hospital window. He had just gone through with the operation. The only thing different now, was that he had truly been the one to save her. Where ever she went, he would know. But, was that enough for him? Was it ever going to be enough to just know that he had saved her? With her going off and leaving, completely oblivious to what had happened? To what he had done for her? They say that when you love someone, knowing that they're happy should be enough, so did that make him so selfish?

Deep down, he wanted to tell her. The only thing that held him back was the fact that he wanted to know whether or not she really wanted to stay with him. The last thing he wanted was for her to stay with him just because of what he had done. It didn't seem like her to do something like that, but then again no one ever really does what is expected of them in situations like these.

One of the nurses walked into the room carrying his chart. As she looked over a few things, he simply watched her. "Do you by any chance know how Jennifer Marlowe is doing?"

She stopped and looked to him for a minute. "I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything, okay?"

"Okay, thanks," he said and then laid back down.

Did she know something that she didn't want to tell him? The way that she stopped and looked at him got him wondering. No one just did that when everything was fine. Then again, there was the fact that he had woken up from surgery about two hours ago. He wasn't quite sure if the anesthesia had worn off yet. If that was the case, the nurse might not had even been there in the first place.

Jennifer sat there in the darkened room. No idea what time it was or how long she had been asleep. All she knew was that some time ago she had woken up and had been told that everything worked out successfully.

There was one person that she wanted to talk to. The only thing that kept her from calling him was that she had no idea whether or not he would answer. If he was already sleeping, which by now she knew that he was a light sleeper, she would wake him. Instead, she continued to lay there in silence, staring out the window at the dark night sky.

It had now been two days since the surgery. Since then, Jennifer had not heard from Johnny. He had been up in his room recovering, and since he wanted to keep this all a secret, he didn't want to stop by and see her until he had been discharged, which was in less than twenty four hours.

Within the last forty eight hours, many people had stopped by to see Jennifer. Basically all her friends, her sister Jean, and everyone from the station except for Johnny. Right now, Bailey was sitting in the room with her.

"So how's everything going at the station?" Jennifer casually asked.

Bailey shrugged. "Well, my niece comes in tomorrow, but other than that nothing real exciting. We have all had to take turns filling in for you. We all miss you."

Jennifer smiled to her, but there was something missing from the story. We all miss you? All? What about Johnny? The others had come to see her, all except for him? Her smile slowly faded as she looked up to Bailey. "Bailey? Can ask you something?"

Bailey was now starting to worry. She could see it in her face that there was something wrong. "Sure," she answered.

"And you'll be honest?" Jennifer asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Jennifer took a minute and stared down at her hands. It was as almost as if she were bracing herself for the answer. The answer that she was about to get was most likely going to be her deciding answer as to whether or not she stayed in Cincinnati. "Is Johnny avoiding me?"

"What?" Bailey asked. She was the only one who knew what was going on so far, and she was told to keep it that way.

"Everyone else has been in to see me, everyone but him. I'm starting to wonder if he just feels guilty, or he doesn't want to see me like this, or…" Jennifer trailed off as she looked down. The thought was almost too much for her, she needed to take a moment to get it out.

"Or what?" Bailey asked with concern.

"Did he just stop caring?" Jennifer asked as she looked back up at Bailey. That to her seemed like the most logical. He had seen her before in bad shape and had went and saw her when he was feeling guilty, there was no other real reason for him to just stop seeing her.

Bailey sat back and sighed. It was easy for her to sympathize with the feelings that she was describing. The urge to tell her what was really going on almost became unbearable. The only thing that made her hesitate was the fact that Johnny had trusted her with something and she didn't want to let him down. On the other hand, Jennifer thought he stopped caring, when that was really the opposite of what was going on. "I can definitely tell you that he still cares for you."

"How?"

Bailey stood up. "Look, I've got to get going. But before I go, I guess I could tell you something, and I want you to think about it."

"Okay."

"You wouldn't have had that surgery if he would have stopped caring," Bailey said and then left before she let anything else slip out.

Jennifer sat there in confusion as she stared in the direction of the door. It was then that her eyes slowly grew open. "Oh my God," she said in realization.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Bailey walked into the station holding the hand of a little girl, Jessica, or Jessie. They both stopped at the coat rack. Bailey took off her coat and hung it up and then knelt down besides Jessie. "You need help getting your coat there?" Bailey gently asked as she started to help her with her jacket.

Jessie nodded. "Thank you Aunt Berry," she said and then started walking towards Jennifer's desk. She was only four, saying Bailey was still hard for her.

Bailey caught up to her and grabbed her hand. "Why don't you come into the back with me?" Bailey asked.

"Okay," Jessie answered.

The two walked back into the den where Andy and Venus were playing cards while Les was trying to work on something at his desk. It was quiet with both Jennifer and Johnny gone, but they tried to go on as usual. They all knew that Jennifer was going to be okay, and they figured that Johnny was just taking off a few days to either be to himself or to be able to stay with her.

"Hello everyone!" Jessie said as she entered the room.

Everyone looked over. "Well who may I ask is this young lady?" Venus asked as he softly laughed at the child's entrance.

Bailey smiled. "My neice Jessie."

Andy walked over and knelt down before her, extending his hand. "Andy Travis," he said.

Jessie smiled and shook his hand. "Jessie!"

Andy laughed as he stood up. "Now there's someone who can introduce themselves."

Les sighed and quickly walked over to Andy. "Andy? May I please speak to you? Alone?"

Andy shrugged. "Sure Les," he said. The two walked out into the hall for a minute. "What is it?"

"Well Andy, if you haven't noticed, This is a professional place. And Bailey is supposed to be taking Jennifer's spot. We can't have a little kid running around the lobby."

Andy hid his urge to laugh, It was hard, but he did it. "Well," he said looking as if he were considering what Les had said. He knew that this wasn't the most professional place out there. "We could have Bailey stay in the back with Jessie and take over all the news while you go handle things out in the lobby."

"I can't do that! I've been in charge of the news years before she got here!" Les said. He stopped and thought a second. "Besides, she seems like a well behaved kid."

"That's what I thought," Andy said as he opened the door and walked back in.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Jennifer lay by herself in the room. She now knew something that could change everything. Johnny saved her life. There was no way in getting around it. He saved her. How could she get up and leave the state knowing this?

There was one thing she could do at the moment. Carefully, she reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen.

_Johnny, _

_I think I know what you did. I have talked to everyone but you, and none of them seem to know where you are. Or, at least they act like they don't. I guess my proof will be in whether or not you get this letter. If you do, I will know that you have a room here. If not, then I guess I was all wrong. _

_To get on with what I wanted to say, I think I should start out with thanking you. Without you, I don't know how much longer I would have lived. You saved my life. You got me away from that man, you took me in so he couldn't get to me and then you gave up an essential organ. I still don't exactly know what happened that night, but I do know that you were worried enough about me to marry me. _

_I should also tell you something else. My sister, Jean, she came up to bring me back home with her. At first, I thought that it was a good idea. Now that I think about it though, she's not the one that saved me. I am not completely sure about how I honestly feel about you. During this entire time I was scared and emotional. There was no way that I couldn't become attached to you. I do know though that I am willing to try being with you. Some time without things like this going on would truly show us how we feel about one another. There is always going to be feelings, situations like these do permanently change people and how they feel about others. I just want to make sure before I jump into anything. _

_Love,_

_Jennifer. _

She folded the paper and then waited until a nurse came in and then handed the letter to her to give to Johnny.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Bailey sat at the desk out in the lobby. She was filling out a form for something as Jessie sat on the desk and colored.

Andy walked out to grab something from the filing cabinet.

"Like it?" Jessie asked as she showed the picture to Bailey.

Bailey looked up and grabbed the picture. "Beautiful! You want me to keep it somewhere safe so that it doesn't get ripped or anything?"

Jessie nodded. "Yes pease."

Andy smiled as he watched the scene before him. He liked watching Bailey with Jessie. Also this was one of the first times in a while that he had seen her happy. She was getting back to her old self.

Bailey searched around the desk and then stood up. "Stay here a second," she said and then headed over to the filing cabinet.

As soon as Andy saw her stand up, he went back to looking for the file that he needed.

"By any chance, do you think there is an empty folder in there?" Bailey asked.

"I don't think so, but I can check," Andy said as he went through the cabinet. He closed the drawers and shrugged. "I can check my office for you if you want."

Bailey laughed. "Its not that important. I'm sure I can find something else to put a picture in."

"All right," Andy said. "If you need anything just let me know."

"Thanks Andy," she said. She watched him walk away and then headed back to the desk.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: There for Her

It had been two weeks since the operation. Johnny had already been out of the hospital for a couple of days, but was still staying home. Jennifer was getting out today. This was the day that he had been waiting for. He had no idea what to actually do. Should he be the one to go and pick her up? Where should he take her after he does get her? It had been a while since these two had actually talked. There was a lot that he was beginning to feel nervous about. Once he had gathered the courage, he got in the car and went to go get her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Bailey sat at the desk. This was going to be her last week there as she prepared a couple of things to be sent out.

"Morning there Bailey," Andy said as he walked in and hung his coat up.

Bailey smiled up to him. "Only one more week of having to do this job," she annouced. After all of this was done, she truly was happy to go back to doing the news. She just never saw herself as a receptionist.

Andy laughed. "Congratulations." He walked over and grabbed himself a cup of coffee. Once his cup was filled, he turned back to Bailey and gave her a bitter sweet smile. "Kinda too bad though."

"Are you saying that you would rather me here than working on the news?" She sounded more offended than anything.

"No, I was just going to say that it was nice seeing you first thing every morning I walk in here."

"Oh," Bailey said. Now she was embarressed. He went out of his way to compliment her and there she went unnecessarily defending herself.

Andy just laughed. "Don't worry about it," he said as if reading her mind.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Jennifer got into the car and sat next to Johnny. There was an awkwardness between them as they sat there in silence. Each of them had things they wanted to say, but neither of them knew how to go about saying them. Jennifer had just had her life saved and Johnny had found out that she was staying.

Johnny had finally decided to take the first turn. "You know Jennifer," he started. "I was wondering where I should take you. To your place? Or do you wanna go back to mine?"

Jennifer sat there a minute. "Well, I was thinking that maybe your's would be good."

They both seemed to be over cautious about what they said. It was getting to the point to where each felt as if they had to carefully think through every word before they said it.

"So, my place?" Johnny asked as he started the car.

"Yeah," Jennifer said. "I don't think I want to go back to mine. It would seem pretty lonely there."

Johnny nodded. "I guess it would."

Jennifer sighed. For no reason apparent to her, she wanted to cry. "Johnny?"

"Hmm?" He looked over to see her head down as she covered the tears. "What is it?" he asked as he removed his sun glasses.

Jennifer turned to him with tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she said before breaking down.

Johnny wasn't quite sure what to do. He did what seemed right. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. As her head rested on his shoulder, he turned the car back off and wrapped his other arm around her. "You're welcome," he said. "And um, thanks for staying."

There was no answer from Jennifer as she cried into his shirt, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was alive and healthy and right there with him.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

It was lunch time. Andy walked through the lobby and grabbed his coat off the rack by the door."You have any plans for lunch today?"

Bailey looked up to him. "Me?" she asked. She wasn't aware that they were presently alone.

"Yeah. I was thinking maybe we could go down to that little cafe on the corner."

Bailey stood up as she finished writing something. "I'll be there in a second."

Andy smiled as he watched her. He saw her open the drawer and grab for her purse and set it on top of the desk. Opening it, she pulled out her wallet and started going through it. She was checking to see if she had enough money. "Don't worry about it, its on me."

"Are you sure about that?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah," Andy said.

Bailey smiled. "Well, all right," she said. Over the time that she had been there, which wasn't really all that long, she had become more confident. Not too long ago, she had convinced Les to give her part of the news. She may have come a bit of a ways from day one, but there was still a small part of her that remained that same shy girl that was unsure of herself. At one point she was brave enough to ask Johnny out, but the whole thing with Jennifer brought back some of her former insecurities. Now, her feelings for Andy were growing stronger and stronger. When ever she had an idea, he backed her up, he helped her. When ever she was unsure of herself, he told her what she needed to hear. He was there for her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Johnny opened the door and held it for Jennifer as she walked in. "Is there anything you need?" he asked as he closed the door behind him.

"No, but thank you," Jennifer said as she carefully sat down on the couch. "Its just nice to be out of that depressing hospital."

"Yeah, that's how I felt too," Johnny said. He leaned against the door. There had been something on his mind ever since he had read the letter. "What now?" he asked.

Jennifer was taken aback by the question. At first, she didn't really understand, but it soon hit her. "I don't know."

Johnny sighed as he stood back up. "Well, first things first. We gotta decide whether or not to stay married. I think after that everything else should be pretty much figured out."

Jennifer laughed. "You can't possibly ask me to just make that decision."

"Not right now, maybe in a month or so. I'm just saying that we should probably think about it." Johnny knew that everything was going to take a while. He just wanted to see how she felt about everything. They were going to be spending a lot of time together before they both went back to work. An entire week was not a lot, but for two people stuck in the same small apartment, it would take some patience.

"I do know that I didn't want to leave." That small sentence meant so much. Deep down, she knew that if Johnny hadn't been there for her like he had, that if she had been alone through everything that she would have left. She enjoyed her job and everyone that she worked with, her life in Cincinnati in general, but her health and safety were more important than any of that stuff. What Johnny had done had proved to her that she was going to be taken care of. Normally, she was hesitent to take this sort of attention from others. She was more independent than that. This situation how ever, called for something more. He stepped up and took her in. He was there for her.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: My Love (part 1)

Today, both Johnny and Jennifer were going to head back to the station to work. It was going to be weird just showing up again. After all that had happened, Jennifer felt as if she had put a strain on people's lives.

Jennifer stood in front of the mirror brushing her hair as Johnny got ready in the other room. Since she had gotten out of the hospital, something had happened between the two. The opposite of what she had wanted, they grew further apart. It wasn't that they had stopped caring about each other, he still made sure to go out of his way for her, and she did what she could for him. There was just a loss of feelings. He had given her the bed, which she turned down at first stating that he should get his own bed, but he wasn't about to hear it. The weird thing though, the longing to be in the same bed with him was gone. She had stopped caring as to whether or not she slept alone. There was no real way to see if the small things had begun to go with ohnny, but she was sure that she could see something missing in his eyes.

"Johnny?" she asked. This could have waited until tonight, but there was something nagging at her. A feeling that told her she had better bring it up now.

"Yes?" he asked as he walked over to the doorway.

It was hard for her to gather her words. A nervousness swept over her. Her last intention was to hurt him, but somethign had to be said. "How do you feel about me?" It was a broad question, but it was the only way she could think to start.

Johnny didn't know how to respond. He stood there for a second and thought. He knew she was looking for something, and didn't want to actually answer anythign before he knew what. "Well," he started. "I obviously think more of you more than ust as a friend," he said all too casually.

Jennifer sighed. That in no way answered her question. "Do you feel the same way about me that you did when I first moved in with you?" That was a better question.

Johnny stood there. He knew that she was searching for something. Now that he knew, he still had no idea what to say. In all honesty, he had not thought about it. "I really don't know," he admitted. "All I concentrated on last week was getting you taken care of."

That was all she needed to hear. To cover up what she was feeling, she smiled to him and then kissed his cheek. It was wrong of her to play with his emotions, but she couldn't let him know what she felt deep down. It took a heartless person to tell someone who cared enough about you to save you that you were losing your feelings for them. "I was just wondering," she lied.

"All right then," Johnny said as he turned and left.

Jennifer turned back to the mirror and stared at herself. Maybe after they had been at work, been out of the apartment for a few hours, things would seem different. Seem better than they did now.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Everyone else at the station showed up early to work. They knew that today was both Johnny and Jennifer's first day back. Bailey, , and Andy were in the lobby getting things ready while Venus and Les listened to Herb whine about not getting to decorate Jennifer's desk as they finished things for Johnny.

Mr. Carlson taped the small banner to her desk while Bailey organized a couple of the gifts that everyone had pulled their money together for both Johnny and Jennifer.

"I think we're done," Andy said as he stepped back and looked the place over.

"Looks goo dto me," said. "Let me know when they get here. I have something important to attend to in my office."

"New model airplane?" Andy asked.

"No!" he paused for a second. "Train," said and then walked into his office.

Bailey laughed as she looked over to Andy. "Since we're done out here, I think I should go back and check on things with the others."

"Bailey! Wait a second," Andy said as she began to leave.

"Yeah?" she asked stopping.

Andy walked over to his coat and grabbed a small wrapped package out of his pocket. Bailey curiously watched as he carried it over to her. "Your birthday today right?"

Bailey smiled. "Uh, yeah," she said in surprise.

"Happy birthday," Andy said handing it over to her.

Bailey took the package and opened it, revealing a small box. Inside was a necklace that had a small little heart on it. Inside was a small little card that read: to you, a heart that will not break. The closest thing I can do to keep you from getting hurt.

"Thank you," she said smiling up to him. "I don't know what else to say," she said as her eyes began to water.

"Thank you's enough," Andy said. He was just gald that she liked it.

Bailey went and hugged him. "Thank you," she said once again.

Andy hugged her back. "You're welcome."

Bailey pulled back a little bit, while keeping her arms around him. Looking up to him, her eyes gazed into his. As if it were some sort of fate or destiny, the two leaned in and kissed. Right there in his arms, Bailey felt wanted, felt needed, something that she had been waiting for, for a long time now. She could trust him to not hurt her. To not just leave her for the next beauty queen that walks past him.

Jennifer and Johnn walked into the lobby, but froze as soon as they saw the two kissing. Jennifer smiled and then turned back and motioned for Johnny to leave. They quietly left the room, leaving the two alone.

Once the two finally parted, Bailey looked up to him. "I, I don't."

"Yeah," Andy said keeping eye contact with her.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: My Love (Part 2)

It was after Johnny's shift. He stood out in the lobby as he and Jennifer went through the gifts again. Jennifer had gotten perfume and a bracelet while Johnny got a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon albulm and a new pair of sunglasses. As he switched his old sunglasses for the new, he watched Jennifer try on her bracelet.

"Jennifer?" he asked. He had noticed the fact that she had been avoiding him this morning. He had been standing in the same room with her for about ten minutes now, and she hadn't acknowledged his presence.

"Yes?" Jennifer asked. Slowly, she turned her chair to face him.

"What was behind that question this morning?" he asked as he slowly stepped towards her. He was starting to wonder if he had done something that made her think he had stopped caring for her.

"I guess I have to be honest now," Jennifer said as she stood up. Looking up to his eyes, she started to fiddle with the top of the zipper on Johnny's coat. Johnny lifted his sunglasses from his eyes and set them on top of his head. The silence filled the room as Jennifer quickly thought of how to say what she had to say. "Before I say anything, I have to tell you that I am eternaly grateful for everything that you have done and that the last thing I would ever want to do is to hurt you."

Johnny briefly looked down. There was no need to hear the rest. Looking back to her, he grabbed her hand and removed it from his coat. "You don't have feelings anymore do you?"

Jennifer's eyes began to slowly fill with tears. "I'm trying to, believe me. Its just, just that, this last week." She stopped and looked down. Taking her hand out of his grip, she wiped her face. "I just don't feel what I did before, and I'm scared that the feelings I have now will just one day completely disappear."

Johnny sighed. "I can't argue with your feelings."

"I just didn't want to wake up one morning and realize that I had lost all feelings for you. I didn't want to have to learn to go through the motions everyday wishing that there were some other way. Neither of us deserves that." Jennifer stopped for a moment and softly smiled. "Did you see Andy and Bailey this morning?"

"Yeah."

"We haven't done that in a while. We haven't just kissed each other, or held each other. All we have done is existed in the same place together. Like two roomates that lead seperate lives." A feeling of weakness overcame her. Defeat surfaced in her eyes. "Didn't you notice anything different?"

Johnny returned the same look. He did. There was no urge for him to kiss her, to make her feel safe. Nothing. "So what now?"

Jennifer sat back down and shook her head. "Why don't we try going back to our own places and see what comes of it."

Johnny nodded. "All right, I can help you move out tonight, or tomorrow. When ever."

"I think tonight would be fine," Jennifer said.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Andy and Bailey walked out of the building together hand and hand. "You know, I never did officially ask you out," Andy said.

Bailey laughed. "Yes you have. Lunch, dinner."

Andy stopped. He let out a nervous laugh. "I meant um," he stopped and thought about what he was just about to say.

Bailey smiled as she turned to face him. She was about to ask him to continue, but somehow felt that that would ruin the moment.

"What I meant is that I haven't actually asked you out as my girlfriend or even to be my girlfriend."

Bailey wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Yes," she said pulling back.

Andy smiled and put his arm around her. "Thank you," he said.

They contibued to walk out to the parking lot. They had parked next to each other that morning. As Andy started to get into his car, he stopped and watched Bailey for a second. "You know," he started. Bailey stopped as she was just about to get into the car. "There is a movie on tonight and I was wondering if maybe you could come over and watch it with me?"

Bailey smiled. "Sure, what time?"

"Seven thirty?"

"Sounds good to me," she said. "Bye Andy."

"Good bye Bailey," he said and then got into his car.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Four months had passed. Jennifer sat in her apartment by herself. The first month she had spent there alone was the easiest of the four. The first month was getting used to things and trying to get back to the way that things had been. The only difference was that there was no dating. This hadn't been a rule that Johnny had told her, it just felt right. They were still techincally married. Each month though, after the first got a little bit lonlier.

Each night, she wished Johnny were there. She wished she would have someone to wake up to in the morning. She had never pictured herself as the one to be happily married, but right now it wasn't sounding so bad. It was what she had wanted. What she needed. She was starting to question as to how she had gotten by before without a guarantee of waking up next to someone the next morning. Sure, there were men that would come and go in her life, but that was it, they would come for a short time and then leave. Once she found someone else, the cycle would begin again. It was all a game after a while.

"That's it," she said to herself. She got up and grabbed her purse right before leaving the apartment.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Andy rushed around his apartment to make sure that everything was perfect. He had invited Bailey over for dinner, a dinner that one of neighbors had to spend the afternoon showing him how to make. He had the table set up with a single rose in the center. Candles on the table. It was all perfect.

There was a knock at the door. "Coming!" Andy called out. He stood at the table and quickly lit the candles before rushing to answer the door.

"I didn't come too early did I?" Bailey asked. She could see that he had been busy.

"Oh, no of course not. Come in," he said as he stood aside.

Bailey smiled as she walked in. As soon as she saw the place though, her smile grew even bigger. "Oh Andy."

"What do ya think?" he asked as he closed the door behind him.

"Its wonderful."

"Dinner will be done in a few minutes. How about you take a seat on the couch while I go check on it?"

"All right," Bailey said. She sat her purse down on the coffee table and took a seat. "What ever it is you cooked, it sure does smell good."

"I hope thats better than it looks," Andy called back to her from the kitchen.

Bailey laughed. "I'm sure its fine."

Andy walked back out to the living room. "I gotta let it sit for ten minutes," he said as he joined her on the couch.

Bailey studied him for a minute. "Is there something wrong? You seem a bit different tonight."

"Well," Andy admitted. "There's a reason that I wanted everything to be perfect tonight. I have something that I want to talk to you about."

"Okay," Bailey said realizing how serious he was about this. At the moment, she was bracing herself to hear the worst. As far as she was concerned, nothing good ever came after hearing that they need to talk.

"We've, been dating for four months now, right?" He knew the answer, but he was nervous and had to make sure that he had it right.

"Yes," Bailey said. All that was going through her head was that they were over. She hated it. There was no way that she could just move on from that. But, if that was what was about to happen, she was going to have to accept it.

"These have to have been the best four months of my life," Andy said.

Bailey smiled. They weren't going to break up. Thank God.

Andy got down on his knee as he pulled out a small box. "Bailey Quarters, I remember there was one day where you were describing this "miss perfect" to me. You were saying that you had always gotten passed over for her. What those guys didn't know, was that you were the perfect one all along. Would you please make me the happiest man alive and marry me?"

Bailey was now crying. It was hard for her to talk at this point, but she did manage to smile and nod. "Yes," she choked out. She wiped the tears from her face as she watched Andy take her hand and slide the ring onto her finger.

Andy sat back up on the couch and before he could say anything, Bailey threw her arms around him. He wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear.

"Thank you," Bailey whispered back.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Johnny sat in his apartment as he flipped through the channels on the tv. There wasn't much to look for considering he was going through the same three channels over and over again. It was just something to keep his mind from completely wondering. He jumped as soon as he heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"Jennifer!"

Johnny raised his eyebrows in surprise as he stood up. He had given up on the idea that she might come back last month. "Yes?" he asked upon opening the door.

"I was wrong." It was the only thing that needed to come out of her mouth. Johnny knew what she was saying.

"Come in," he said as he stood aside. "You wanna try this again?" he asked as he closed the door.

Jennifer sighed. "I think you should try moving in with me. Or maybe we could get a new apartment all together."

"That sounds fair," Johnny said. He went and sat down on the bed. "What uh, made you change your mind?" He was truly curious. For the past four months, they had been acting casual around each other, only sticking to small talk and saying hi when they passed each other. It was as if they had given up. The only step that they needed to take to end all of this would be to get a divorce.

Jennifer crossed her arms. "I don't know. I got tired of being alone and I got sick of the covering up of feelings in public. I also figured that if neither of us actually stood up and said anything about a divorce, that it wasn't going to happen." Jennifer laughed. "I didn't even go on a date or anything."

Johnny scratched. "Neither did I." He stood up and walked over to her. "I guess this is welcome home?" he asked.

"I guess so," Jennifer said.

Johnny grabbed her arms and pulled her in for a kiss. Jennifer obliged and wrapped her arms around him. As soon as they pulled apart, Jennifer looked up and smiled. "You want to go look for an apartment tomorrow?"

"Sure, I think I could use an upgrade," Johnny said and then looked around his place.

"I love you," Jennifer said.

"Love you too Mrs. Caravella," Johhny replied.

**The End**

**Finally! Thank you to all my readers and reviewers, especially the ones that stuck around for the two years that it took me to write this. I hope all of you have enjoyed this story. As always, let me know what you think. **


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